Easier Said Than Done
by Anla'shok
Summary: Everybody knows starters are for life. Until they're not. Until they're stolen, lost. But giving up isn't an option, no way, even if it means more secrets, more lies. A tale of friendship, ambition, choices and battles. A journey. COMPLETE!
1. Big Bad Ghost

**My new novel-length fic, which will take you somewhere very different than my Hunger Games stories.**

* * *

 **May 18th 341 - Monday.**

Route 111 cut through the sandy hills, gray against the dark of night. The first stirrings of dawn erased one by one the stars lighting the clear spring sky. Mount Chimney stood tall, blackest among shadows, twenty miles to the North, a beacon to those seeking to reach the fires and springs of Lavaridge Town.

One by one, lone torch-lights lit the sides of the road as the savvier trainers climbed out of their tents and rubbed the sleep out of their eyes. Dawn and dusk, not midday, hid the pokemon they most prized. Those very pokemon crouched low, taking advantage of the shadows, their eyes spying for strength and kindness, for the human that would help them rise to power.

An hour's march from the route, thick bushes with deep roots crawled around the gnarly trees that offered shade to those willing to brave the edge of the wilderness. Almost invisible in those bushes, a lone wide tent was fastened to three thick tree trunks. It stretched out two feet above the ground, safe from dust, water and curious crawlies.

Inside slept two trainers, both brand new, fingers curled around the belts carrying the little red-and-white balls that housed their precious companions. They dreamed dreams of adventure, relishing in their first taste of freedom.

Silent and stealthy, a cold shadow cast by no object or body slid inside the tent.

Oo*oOo*oO

Anabel jolted upright, a violent shiver coursing up her spine. She reached out blindly for her nightstand's lamp switch. Her fingers stilled at the feel of hair. _V's hair_.

Anabel let out a big breath, reminded of where she was. _The tent. Journeying._ A grin split her cheeks.

Total darkness gave way to blurred shadows. Cool wind brushed Anabel's face. The tent fabric rippled, the zipper glinted silver.

It was open. V must've gotten too hot during the night.

V's arms and legs were wrapped around her big pillow. She'd somehow ended with only one leg still in her sleeping bag.

Anabel swallowed her laughter. Pity it'd be mean to take a picture.

She crawled to the edge of the tent and poked her head out. The edge of the sky glowed pink. Yesterday's clouds were almost all gone. _Awesome_.

She leaned backwards for her belt-pouch. She'd fallen asleep with it on her pillow, but she was pretty certain it crawled away on its own as soon as she closed her eyes. This time, it had ended up between the feet-end of her sleeping bag and her backpack.

Her fingers dove into the first pocket and found only air. _What?_

The ten-year-old scrambled to a crouch, groping around her backpack.

 _Where was Torchic's pokeball?_

Anabel found her flashlight and winced as the glare hit her eyes.

 _Had the ball fallen in_ – she rummaged through her stuff and pulled the miniaturized bins out before throwing them to the side with a huff. _Why had people been thinking when they made the cardboard bin red like pokeballs?_ The flash of white was just the miniaturized portable toilet.

"Ghosts!" Anabel cursed. Cursing was bad, mostly, but that was why journeying without grownups was fun.

Anabel dug through the backpack feverishly. Clothes, food, the set of cardboard plates, extra shoes… She could fill the whole tent with all the stuff she had inside, but Torchic _wasn't_ in there.

 _Where was he!_ Sleeping bag -no-, pillow -still nothing-, V's sleeping bag – Anabel's knee accidentally dug into her best friend's side.

"Ow, what'ya doing?" V sleepily mumbled.

"Torchic!" Anabel crawled out of the tent and jumped onto the hard ground. _"Torchic!"_ _She could barely see!_

A growly sigh escaped her lungs. Her starter was totally the kind of pokemon that would break out just to annoy her.

Anabel crouch-walked in the gloom, her hands groping at stones and twigs. How far could- _OW!_ Her ankle twisted on a root. Her shoulder slammed hard against grass, the blow barely softened by the scraggly grass. Anabel groaned, spitting dirt and sand out of her mouth.

She needed her eyes to adapt to the darkness, and fast. "Valeria!" She forced herself up, wincing as her scraped hands protested. "V, do you have Treecko?"

"Ann, what -"

"I can't find Torchic! Get up!"

She kept searching, finding nothing. She forgot to breathe when V threw her thick tangled curls behind her shoulders. V had gathered all their pokeballs, and Anabel saw her own confusion mirrored in her best friend's sleepy eyes.

"They're the empty ones," V muttered, slapping down the pile in frustration. "They could have warned us if they meant to go exploring."

"What if they get lost?" It felt like an ekans was squeezing her chest. "Did… did we do something to make them hate us?"

Starter pokemon were supposed to be your _best allies_. With new pokemon, you had to be confident and know your stuff, but starters were supposed to _know_ you were new at this and needed their help.

"No, pokemon challenge their trainers. That's normal. " V had a power, and that power was to sound certain. "They're loud, though, Ann." V pushed herself out of the tree tent and flashed her own flashlight around. "Did _you_ hear anything? I didn't."

Anabel was starting to panic. She couldn't journey without a starter!

Dad would say 'see, I told you Journeys aren't worth it' and V… _No!_ Anabel would make Mom and Dad proud. She'd make Dad see that Journeys were good. She'd prove to Grandma she meant this.

Anabel sucked in a deep breath. "TORCHIC! TREECKO! COME BACK!"

 _"Lavaridge is that way."_

Anabel gasped, whipping to the side to find the speaker. _What-_

The foreign voice had sounded wrong _,_ a cold echo, loud but whispery, as if... It wasn't a _real_ voice, well yes, it was _real_. It was just–

V had picked up a stick almost as big as her. She poked at the shadows, her eyes wide and spooked.

V let the stick fall to the ground when she saw it.

Anabel screamed.

 _It_ was dark purple, misty, like it hadn't decided on a real shape. _It_ floated between the trees, less than two yards away, its red eyes huge and mocking. Miss Lecter had told them in class that _those_ weren't exactly real teeth, those sharp glowing things in that huge mouth, but they totally _looked_ real.

A _gastly?_ No too big, too… solid. A haunter or gengar, it had to be.

"Stay away," Anabel croaked.

She shuddered. The air… the ghost had made the air so cold, and she was still in her pajamas. With no pokemon to defend her.

Short clawed arms escaped the mist and pointed left. The ghost's gleaming fangs made the creepiest smile. ~I said: Lavaridge is that way.~

The cold alien voice was in her _mind_.

"You can _speak._ How did you learn?"

V sounded awed, but ghosts were _bad_. Dad said 'ghosts' when he wanted to swear. Anabel had picked the habit up from him. And this ghost… if it was a gengar, it was…

But Anabel had to be brave. "Did you see a torchic and a treecko?" she managed. "They're ours."

 _Torchic_. _Her little torchic._ He was scary sometimes, when he didn't listen and his feathers burst into flames, but he was _hers_.

~No. They are not.~

Something flashed in the stormcloud of purple mist, swift as a blink. A pokeball. _Torchic!_

"Wha- Give it back!"

The ghost's red eyes glinted with cruel delight.

Anabel took a step back. And a second. "V, it's a thief. It's with bad guys," she breathed, looking wildly around. Nothing. She saw nothing.

And nowhere to run.

"Wait, this isn't a prank?" V said. "You're with actual people?"

A prank. Yes, _yes!_ That's what ghosts did. An evil prank to get them terrified. Okay, it had totally worked. Could they get their pokemon back now?

~We are magnanimous -~ it paused. ~That means _nice_.~ Anabel jerked her head. The cold pulsing words shattered her thoughts, emptying her mind to fill it with echoes. It was wrong. She didn't _want_ it there. _Get out!_ ~ You may leave unharmed.~

"This isn't what 'nice' is _,_ " V protested, pushing long tangled curls out of her face.

That only made the horrible grin wider.

Anabel couldn't move. The sharp chill bit into her exposed skin. She waited for the pokeballs to drop out of the ghost, for the evil joke to be over.

"Pokeballs have trackers," she shakily managed. "We'll get them back. We…" She squared her shoulders. She was _bigger_ than it! "We'll tell the Rangers!"

The ghost's grin sharpened further, its eyes burning with evil.

It was so dark. Around them there were only sandy hills and clusters of tall trees. _Fear_. Ghosts fed on fear. If Anabel stopped being scared, it would get bored and stop this.

"That's enough," she said more strongly. "Give it back."

The wilds could be trouble. They were for experienced trainers only, those with five Gym badges or more. But these weren't the wilds. They were less than a mile off the route. They'd not broken _any_ rule. Rangers were supposed to keep places safe!

"Are you male or female?"

Ghosts, V, _what_?

Two more clawed stubby appendages popped out of the… _gengar_. Anabel shuddered. She'd never wanted to see one like this, not before she was experienced and had a full pokemon team.

~Male. What could a cub like you have of interest for me?~ It, _he_ , spoke every syllable of every word, like a professor, except evil.

Slowly, it floated towards V. Towards them both.

It was so cold, and those glinting eyes -

Anabel wrapped her arms around her chest. "They're our starters!" She was too upset to manage more than an outraged snarl.

Stubborn, rowdy, but they were _theirs._ Torchic and Treecko were supposed to grow together and become awesome! He couldn't do this!

"If you fainted them," Anabel spluttered, "I'll… I'll…"

"What do you want, Gengar? You can't be a thief for real."

V's hand was warm around Anabel's arm. Almost warm enough for bravery. Would Torchic hear her shout for him, from inside his pokeball? Anabel's scream died in her throat. _A gengar_. What if the ghost attacked them?

She gasped when her mind filled once more with frost.

~They are needed elsewhere.~

"You liar!" Anabel exploded. "They're -"

~Bad bad little girls, deep in the wilderness.~ The ghost's grin was _huge_ , fangs glinting brighter than the moon. ~How foolish you are to think you could survive here.~

Anabel lunged with a furious scream. V yanked her back.

"We're going to tell on you!" Anabel shouted, struggling against V's grip.

~We know your faces and names, _Valeria, Anabel._ You do not want us to be enemies.~ Anabel shuddered. She couldn't stop shivering. ~The Professor's records hold your parents' addresses. I will come and go unnoticed and, because of you, they will pay the price. ~

"No, _you_ know," V whispered. "You don't have to tell. Who's your trainer? They're no good. Don't listen to them."

Anabel's heart punched against her ribs like a furious machamp, droning out V's voice. He'd _threatened_ their families. He'd hurt Mom and Dad and it'd be _her_ fault.

Anabel breathed in deeply, and then out. She had to calm down. Fix this. She was supposed to be good with emotions. She knew that June was mean because she was angry all the time. She knew that Nico said stupid things because he panicked around people. She knew Mel was loud and hyper because attention made her so happy. But the gengar… his red eyes shone like he was happy, a hungry type of happy that made her sick, but she sensed nothing, not even the faintest chimes of happiness.

Just chill sucking everything good out of the air.

"… lose their Trainer's License," V was saying, as if the ghost was a six-year-old kid who just needed things explained instead of an _evil! ghost!_

The ghost's smirk was gone as he stared back at her. ~Rules is an empty word where there is no strength, cub.~

"Catch, you're dumb," V snapped, taking a step forward. "You're clever, except _dumb_ because you let them make you bad." Her skin glowed purple. She was way too close to that monster. "You've got to steal your own pokeball, not _ours_. You'll get stuck in a computer _forever_ when your trainer gets caught. They're not worth it. You can come with us."

Was V _MAD_? The ghost had threatened –

 _"_ If you don't like it, we'll free you," V continued. "You don't have to be a… a villain."

~To the buyers, I am a hero.~ He straightened, taller, leaner but still very much a beast of mist and darkness. ~You overestimate yourself, Valeria.~ His teeth were hidden now but the voice in their minds was fangs of ice. It _hurt_.

Suddenly, the sharp toothy grin was back and the ghost was pointing. ~Lavaridge is that way. Do not get lost: I dislike carting corpses.~

 _Corpses_.

The ghost's red eyes blinked out. A shapeless shadow glided away between the trees.

"No, wait!" Anabel cried. "You can't -"

Nothing but darkness, low bushes, and those sharp painful roots. He'd _vanished._

"No," Anabel breathed. _Torchic, with his big round head and soft red feathers and piping willful voice._ "NO!" Not her pokemon. Not her _starter_. Not like this.

A furious scream left Anabel's lungs. She grabbed V's discarded stick and broke into a run. "COME BACK HERE!"

* * *

 **Author's note:** Those of you who are familiar with anime canon (Battle Frontier episodes) might remember Anabel (Lila in the OV). She's the psychic who tell Ash that she's been able to feel what every living being (including plants) feel since she was a little girl. In this tale, I consider that she exaggerated to wow Ash, and because the truth is too complicated and personal to share with strangers. Anabel's psychic abilities are still fledgling in this story. They will become a major plot point in the sequel.

I am using a mix of various canon materials and have taken a number of liberties. I try nevertheless to be faithful to the spirit of the pokemon world.

Don't hesitate to share your thoughts.


	2. The Stolen Journey

**CHAPTER 2A: The Stolen Journey**

* * *

Anabel ran, dodging roots and bushes, searching the shadows. Breath tore through her burning lungs. She tried to taste the wind for coldness that shouldn't be, seeking the chill that would give the ghost away.

"TORCHIC! TREECKO!"

She'd expected Torchic to battle with her. For her. Somehow, Anabel would have to battle for _him_ first.

She ran until her legs turned to lead. Until she couldn't breathe. Until she recognized none of the shadows, none of the trees.

Until she blinked and found herself in pajamas and slippers, her bruised toes caked with sand and dirt, her ankles raw from scratches. Alone, with no vidphone, in a place she didn't know.

Gasping, Anabel leaned against the closest tree, her hands clutching the big stick like a lifeline. Her throat tasted like blood. But she _couldn't_ stop. She had to find -

Far away shouts had her freeze.

"Ann! Anabel! Ann, stop!"

V's voice. Anabel's eyes filled with tears. Relief, despair, she wasn't sure. "Here," she croaked. "HERE!"

V burst out of the shadows, shaking her head. " _That_ , was _dumb."_ Her hand trapped Anabel's wrist in an iron grip. _"_ We've got to get our things _._ "

V had her vidphone. The vidphone doubled up as a map. They weren't lost anymore.

"We've got to get _Torchic and Treecko_ ," Anabel protested between gasps. Still, she threw the stick away. It was useless, against a ghost.

Empty handed, she felt even worse.

"Yes. We need a plan, though."

A plan. Anabel's eyes darted left and right as V dragged her back to their tent. Cold brushed her face. She froze, her eyes darting left and right for a flash of purple, a gleam of red eyes. _Nothing_. Wind, just wind. Just wind, darkness, and no plan.

Finally, the tent was back in sight. Anabel trudged back to it, feeling sick and so very _cold_. _Torchic. Treecko._ They were supposed to become best friends. To be a family, forever.

Just yesterday, they'd chased a sandshrew, and you should have seen Torchic with his little torchic legs, speeding like he was about to conquer the world. Then Treecko had gotten in his way and the two pokemon had started battling each other, the sandshrew forgotten. Her and V's starters were always fighting, like they had to decide who'd come out on top. Torchic won of course. There was little that a grass type could do against a fire type, but Treecko was stubborn, and Anabel had been bitten by flames getting between them.

Torchic didn't _really_ hate Treecko. They weren't hitting hard enough to faint. It was just pretend fights even when it looked fierce. And that time with the sandshrew, it had been almost gentle, like they'd finally agreed to be friends and move on.

Today they would have caught a new pokemon!

Anabel tore on the first of the three straps holding the tent two feet off the ground, not caring about being careful. She flinched when the tent collapsed on the side. Her open backpack and all the stuff she'd taken out tumbled out and sprawled all over the ground.

Ghosts, she had to pack it all back now.

V squeezed her arm. She was staring at where the gengar had been. "A _talking_ pokemon. You told me your uncle worked with some, but... _wow_."

No _._ 'Wow' had been Torchic creating embers, those fire-not-real-fire embers glowing with poke-energy, not _this_.

"He's evil, how could you ask him to come with us?" He'd _threatened their families_ , how could V not care?

Anabel aggressively tied back her shoulder-length lilac hair. She'd had so many As at school, and she'd failed to keep them safe.

She hated herself right now.

Snapping noises made her turn. V was kicking at low bushes. "They say it's bad trainers who make bad pokemon," she muttered.

"But there was no one else here! Pokeballs can't force you to do things!" Anabel lowered her voice. "He's a _gengar_. He's evil because he eats fear." And she'd never been so terrified.

V's scowl was dark. "He said people were going to _buy_ our starters, Ann. That's like… poachers. I thought it was a book thing."

"It was in the news, once…" Anabel had never known anyone who'd made the big news. That stuff didn't happen in real life.

She undid the other two tent straps, more carefully, biting hard on her lip.

She'd promised V a Journey. They had to go on.

 _'A Journey? Why didn't you… You go, Vali. Enjoy it.'_ Anabel had been scared V's mom would shout at V, for lying, for running off. But Nalani had sounded happy after the shock. V was happy too, but nervous-like, like she was scared it would change. Her mom had been her best friend for so long, even if it was a friendship that had happened because of problems no one should have.

Anabel had to fix this _._ They needed a pokemon. They'd never beat the gengar without one.

"If we find a nice trainer, we could get them to help us catch a pokemon," she began. People didn't all start off with an official starter: they could buy a pokemon, or use a family one, or one somebody else had caught, but a Joy nurse or a Professor still had to approve it.

"No one would know we'd not caught it ourselves." Anabel hated how her eyes stung with tears. The _pokemon_ would know. They'd get no respect from it. That ghost would make her into a filthy liar.

"We should've gone straight to Rustboro instead of acting all special and taking the long way through Fallarbor," V muttered. "We should've caught another pokemon and made them stand guard."

' _It's your fault'_ , Anabel heard, and it was a Focus Punch to the gut. Her voice hitched. "Torchic and Treecko kept fighting! How are we supposed to deal with more pokemon when we can't deal with our starters! And I might have heard that ghost if you just stayed still at night!"

Valeria had woken her up _all_ _five_ nights of their journey.

"We should have stayed on the route." V wasn't shouting. It was just angry mutters as if Anabel wasn't worth shouting at. V wasn't even looking at her. "You're the one who got all upset about telling people we didn't want to battle them. It's just a 'no' and then ignoring them. You're so proud, though, you -"

"It was _our_ idea! Those mankey wouldn't let it go! What were we supposed to do if Torchic or Treecko fainted? We'd have been stuck until the pokecenter!"

V looked down, her jaw clenched in the gloom. "I can buy a second tent if you can't sleep."

Anabel blinked, a buzzing _'what's going on?'_ replacing her anger. _Ghosts_ , it was so _dark_. Her shoulders slumped. "I don't want to fight. This is stupid."

"I _can_ buy a tent."

"No way. I… I move around too. It's part of sharing."

A weak smile tweaked V's lips. Anabel smiled back ruefully and crouched to gather her stuff. She felt warm when V crouched next to her and began dusting and folding back the clothes that had fallen out of the tent.

Anger was a traitor, because it hurt people and made you stupid, but it was like a warm coat. Without it, they were two kids, and not even big ones, alone in the dark, with no pokemon and no plan.

But Dad had told her what he did at work when he had no plan.

"We've got to brainstorm this, V. Let's say every idea we get until we get a good one." She took a deep breath and began. "Say... we could get a pokemon from a trainer who wants to free one."

People freed good pokemon all the time because they could keep only six.

"Uh… Bait that gengar back with Berries and get our pokeballs back?"

 _What Berries?_ Just the word 'gengar' gave Anabel the shivers.

"Or maybe," V said, "find the gengar, help him steal the pokemon of an evil trainer. He'll owe us and get us a pokemon for us."

Finding that ghost, _fine._ The rest _no_ , no way.

"How about we find orphan baby pokemon and raise them, V. They'd have love us, right?"

Anabel's smile was met with a thoughtful frown.

"Where do we find one? We could find an egg, though."

"That's stealing, V. The mom -"

"We don't have to _tell_ the baby we –"

" _Valeria_!"

"You said even the bad ideas." V shoved the pile of shirts back in Anabel's backpack. "My mind's a bit dark right now. Blame Gengar. If you seriously want to ask trainers if they'd free a pokemon, though…"

A pokemon who'd had a proper trainer wouldn't listen to them. _Torchic_ barely had. It was like an onix around Anabel's chest now. Breathing hurt.

"We could win the lottery," she whispered, "buy new starters…" With their luck, they'd win a big fat zero.

Was that _hope_ in V's eyes?

"We've got to find a job. In Lavaridge, Ann. We could buy a pokemon. It doesn't matter if it's old or ugly. It just has to be good enough for us to catch more."

 _A job?_ "That's allowed?"

V nodded, and Anabel found herself squaring her shoulders.

It was good enough for adults. It'd be good enough for her.

"We can tell my parents that we…" Her throat clenched before she could finish.

Those two times she'd had Mom and Dad on the vidphone, Anabel had shown them Torchic, hoping they'd come to love him too. They said they'd forgiven her, but she could tell that they were still disappointed. It had been alright, because she was going to _show_ them, but now… Now she'd be start out a _grubber_ , people who used money instead of skill to get pokemon. It made her sick.

Torchic was gone.

She'd fantasized about her Journey for months. She'd always been so good at everything in her head.

 _Torchic was gone._

They hadn't even begun, and it was already over, like it had never happened, but worse.

"We'll find something," V said. "Torchic will be okay."

"He will?" V sounded so sure. Anabel almost smiled.

"Yeah. Or he'll just attack them. What's the point in stealing him and Treecko if they make them not want to stay?"

Betrayal burned Anabel's throat. How could they _ever_ want to stay with thieves? "What if they hurt them?"

"If they just want to hurt pokemon, there's wild ones everywhere."

That didn't make it okay _at all_. "Aren't you upset about Treecko?"

V's hard expression was answer enough.

That evil ghost had stolen their Journey.

Anabel stuffed the folded tent into her backpack, her shoulders stiff. The backpack worked like a pokeball: it was light and much bigger on the inside, holding two wardrobes in a space that fit snugly on her back. They just had to make sure to sort things out well in the different pockets, to find them back easily.

Anabel slid her water bottle in the holder and pulled the straps tight.

V was almost ready. She wore her raincoat, the raincoat Anabel had made her. They had identical ones, of the prettiest magenta, and Grandma had helped her weave in both her and V's initials on the shoulders, so that everybody would know they were best friends.

Anabel adjusted her messy ponytail. She couldn't be bothered to get her brush. Grandma would faint, if she saw it.

But Grandma wasn't here. _It wasn't supposed to be like this!_ It had been like a dream. First getting to know V, then leaving...

V mounted her bicycle, her vidphone on map mode. "Lavaridge is that way for real. That's got to be the volcano, that shadow over there."

The sky was pink and light blue, but the hills were still barely more than a dark blur against the night.

A hateful yawn broke Anabel's jaw open. She slammed her foot down on the pedal. "Let's hurry up."

Oo*oOo*oO

Anabel groaned as she pushed on the pedals. The ground was too soft. The bicycle kept digging sand.

Everything looked so much bigger, the shadows especially. She straightened on the saddle, her jaw clenched. She was way too old to get spooked like that.

"Cacnea!"

Anabel started as a green spiky ball burst out of one of the sparse bushes. After that horrible gengar, it looked almost cute. That made it worse.

"Don't bother," she said. "We can't battle you, our pokemon got stolen." _They'd get them back!_ "Unless you'd let us catch you without a fight?"

The cactus-like pokemon wilted. "Ca?" It sounded suspicious, the bad kind.

V took a cautious step forward. "It's fine, we –"

She yelped when Anabel grabbed her arm and forced her to pedal once more towards Lavaridge. If you were on foot or bike between cities, you were a trainer _with_ pokemon. If pokemon camp had taught Anabel anything, it was to not take chances with wild pokemon.

"We need to get back to Route 111, fast."

They could have caught that cacnea, just last night! They'd have caught it and they'd be on their way to having a real team!

"V, I need your help finding a story to tell Mom and Dad." She couldn't tell them. What if the ghost hurt them? What if they said she had to come home?

She'd never been so glad for her parents' busy schedules. They sent each other good night messages every day, but the real talks were rarer.

V nodded. She was good at making stuff up, because of all those novels she read.

Anabel furrowed her brow. She was good enough at sensing strong emotions, but right now, the pounding of her own heart was too loud for anything else. "You alright, V?"

"Fine." Anabel snorted, tearing a small smile from her best friend. "Sure, I'm upset. What's to do except moving on, though?" V blew her cheeks out angrily. "That was a _mind-talking gengar_. There can't be that many around."

Anabel squared her shoulders. "That doesn't make it right." She and V would get new pokemon, and they'd come back. They'd find Torchic and Treecko. _No one_ would ever get their starters stolen again.

Slowly, the sun peeked over the horizon. Anabel wheezed as a stitch punched through her side. They couldn't ride on this stupid sandy grass! What if instead of a cacnea they ran into something bigger? meaner? faster? The pictures from school and TV, those wounds and warnings, flashed before her eyes. Mel's brother had walked with crutches for a whole three months and-

"Slow down," V said, gasping behind her. "The cacnea didn't follow us. We'll be on the road in twenty minutes. We're safe."

 _Safe?_ Anabel opened her mouth in protest and shut it again, struck by a horrible suspicion.

"You're still here aren't you?" she shouted, her eyes sweeping over the hills and bushes. "Show yourself, Ghost!"

"Bah, let him be magnamoo… magnami… what did he call it again?"

"He just wants to make sure we're not telling," Anabel snarled, her hands shaking on the handrail. "He doesn't care!" she shouted. " _Go away_!"

Something tugged at her coat. V's hand. An odd crooked smile twisted V's lips, and her eyes sparkled as if she still hadn't realized the ghost was evil.

"Long as he's close," V whispered, "he can still change his mind."

A weak laugh escaped Anabel's lips. There was something really cute about V's hope.

"He's a pokemon, Ann. He's just been taught wrong. He can change."

Their teachers had warned them. Bad trainers made pokemon dangerous and evil –and who'd ever heard anyone use the world 'nice' to describe _wild_ ghosts for that matter? -.

"If he gives us Torchic and Treecko back, I'll take it all back, but, V, what if -"

What if he didn't. What if he _hurt_ them -

Anabel squeezed the brakes and almost fell over when a black-purple ball of energy appeared out of nowhere and sailed into a large bush. A numel rolled out, scrambling upright with a grunt.

It rushed off in a panic without a backwards glance, raising puffs of sand behind it.

"Could you make one faint, please, Gengar?" V called hoarsely as she loosened her hold on Anabel. "So we can catch it?"

"Forget it, we'd get no respect from any pokemon we'd catch like that." Ghosts, Anabel's heart was beating so hard her voice was a pathetic wheeze.

One attack, just _one_ , and that numel had fled faster than any pokemon ever had from Torchic and Treecko.

Anabel took a deep breath. Now, that ghost was too strong, but later... Later, she'd show him. They'd get their starters back. No thieving ghost would make her give up. She'd give it no fear to feed on.

But she stayed very close to V, just in case.

As she rode, her thoughts flew to home, and how they'd gotten into this mess.

* * *

 **Alright, next chapter, we jump back in time to give you all a little more context.**

 **How do you like it so far?**


	3. Making a Home

**CHAPTER 3A: Making a Home**

 **A few flashback chapters to properly meet our main characters, and we'll be straight back where chapter 2 left us.**

* * *

 **August 18th 340 NP (New Peace) - 7 months before Journey-**

 _Up, down, up, down._

The not-quite ten year old hummed to the radio music, the big hand-brush an extension of her arm as she energetically covered the exterior wall with light blue paint.

Gone were the plants choking the house, gone were the brownish water marks and the mustard paint that peeled off the walls like a scab.

 _Up, down, up, down._

Every stroke was an inch conquered. Anabel thrust the brush up, brandishing it like a sword as another ten inches succumbed to the light-blue of goodness. _Die_ , mold, _die,_ ugly paint, _die_ , everything old and rotten. This would be her _home_. It would be the best.

 _Up, d-_ Anabel frowned. Something was wrong. She turned to scowl at the now silent radio.

"Mom, turn it back on!" It was harder to make paint into conquest without the music's help.

"Time to recharge," Mom said, wiping her gloves on her splattered orange apron.

"But I don't want to stop, this is fun!"

Anabel's legs ached, her hands burned, but it just made it _better._ The brand new harness kept her safe and she could bounce her feet off the exterior wall of the first-floor all she wanted. Around her, the evergreen forest stretched out to infinity in three directions, and on the clearest days, Mount Chimney shimmered black on the horizon.

It was like owning the whole world.

"We'll paint some more later. You'll have blue skin forever if you don't wash it off now."

 _Liar._ But she let Mom grab her arms and help her out of her gloves. Anabel did have paint all over.

Mom lowered herself, and then lowered Anabel down.

 _Oof_. Being back on the ground felt weird.

Anabel wiped her matted hair off her sweaty forehead. No matter how tight she made the ponytail, lilac locks sneaked out and went to tickle her face.

She paused to admire the growing blue spot on the wall. Little by little, they were winning. The house didn't quite feel _theirs_ yet, but almost. They'd bought it, and now they were making it into a home.

"When I'll be grown," Anabel announced, "I'll make old houses into brand new homes."

"Water, Smeargle?" Dad called from the other side of the open window. "You must be melting."

She was. Her throat was so raw.

The kitchen floor had been old broken tiles, but Dad had pried and hammered it clean. He stood in a sea of tile debris, whiter than she was blue, grinning like a proud ludicolo.

Anabel tried not to laugh, but she'd made the mistake to drink. The water betrayed her. "You've got dust all over, Dad," she gasped through chokes and chuckles. "Even on your nose."

Obviously, he had to go spread the dust even more, all the way into his hair. Dad's hair didn't go wild like hers or Mom's, but he kept it _much_ longer, ready to roar in its defense whenever Mom threatened to cut it.

A funny look entered Dad's eyes. "Bells, I'm sorry but the paint won't do at all… We missed something big."

Anabel's face fell. "What?" she breathed.

"I can't see your name in gold letters in the corner. What kind of painter doesn't sign their work?"

Anabel knocked her shoulder into his side. That'd teach him to tease.

Now she couldn't wait to sign.

 _Their own house_. It hadn't been bad at Grandma's, but here she'd have a room big enough to play in and more outdoors space than she'd ever dared asked for. Two big old sheds and one _huge_ greenhouse sprawled around the garden, with broken windows and a mess of _everything_ , but they'd fix it. There was nothing else like it in Verdanturf Town.

Anabel couldn't understand why people had abandoned it and let it rot for so long.

"Stand tall, Bells." Dad clicked a picture of her holding the shovel to clear the broken tiles. "Now Grandma will have to swallow back her 'you kids won't ever get it done'."

Instead of drinking her glass, Mom emptied it out on her head with a happy sigh.

Before, Mom had had fluffy but almost-neat short copper hair. _Now_ … Laughter tumbling out of her mouth, Anabel jumped out of reach to avoid Mom's playful swipe.

That's when Anabel noticed the bruise – _bruises_ \- mom had all over her bare (and half-blue) arms. Dad's trousers were all torn from the knees down. Both were smiling broadly.

This was epic.

"Tell Grandma we forgot to feed you," Mom said with a wink. "She'll come over with cakes. I'll get her to make us curtains. Mom can't grumble if she's busy."

"Lying's bad, Mom."

"Cake is _gooood_ ," Mom countered shamelessly.

Mom threw the second glass of water Dad handed her straight at Anabel.

"Hey, _no_ , you – I'm wet now!"

"Oh the tragedy," Mom teased.

Anabel's indignant splutters failed to erase Mom's all too delighted grin, so Anabel decided to storm off to salvage her wounded pride.

" _Children_ ," she muttered as she stomped in the soft grass. But she couldn't quite get that scary sternness that came so easy to Grandma.

Mom and Dad were much younger than other parents. Those were over thirty, over forty, and sometimes over _fifty_ even, which was almost Grandma's age. Parents weren't supposed to be still studying, even if it was for PhDs. This was the first holiday they'd taken all together since forever and Anabel wanted it to never end.

Something snagged at her foot as she went to get a better look at at the other side of the house. _Ow!_

Anabel crouched in grass tickling her shins and scrunched her face up. Something long and weird was sticking out of the ground. She tugged hard. Those pipes were everywhere! She dragged it to the big trash container that truck had brought them last week. It was the third in half as many weeks. She'd thought it was impossible for those massive square boxes to overflow. There had to be a literal ton of junk inside.

She huffed when she stepped over two more irrigation pipes. "Ghosts, this is a mess!" Pokemon could be hiding in here and they'd never know.

She _had_ to check.

Dad was humming excitedly as he wrestled the wheelbarrow full of tiles past her. Just like the trash containers, everything he put in it was swallowed inside, vanishing into pocket-space. They could fit a whole bus in there, if they folded it somehow, but the house and garden were an unending supply of junk.

"This mess is what made it ours, Bells," Dad said. "So many people, older and richer than us, looked at this magical house and ran far far away because they're scaredy-snubbull, and now it's all ours!"

Anabel grinned.

Her grin died when Dad's phone rang, the ringing tone that said _work_. He gave a big eyeroll, but he answered.

He always answered.

Anabel wanted to grab the phone and throw it in the trash containers.

She squared her shoulder and turned her back to Dad, crouching in the grass. Her hands brushed the clovers as she searched for a four-leaf one, her ears sharp even if she was pretending not to listen.

Dad said 'awesome' and 'of course' and 'I'll check it out by tomorrow night' instead of 'I'm on holidays, go away'.

"Jano found a great new article that will make my life much easier," he told her. Anabel didn't need to turn to hear the grin in his voice. She kept staring at the forest. He wasn't allowed to get excited by work, not _today_.

Dad's hand squeezed her shoulder. "Want to take some pictures of us and the house to make him jealous?"

Anabel turned around and gave a sharp nod. Jano was nice enough, but this summer, Mom and Dad were _hers_.

 **August 29th 340 - Friday**

The yawns wanted to break her jaws open, but Anabel couldn't let them win. The house just wasn't done. Three bedrooms were good to sleep in, but only one of the three bathrooms worked –but wasn't it awesome to have _three_ bathrooms for only one house?-, and they'd just finished setting up the kitchen and the living room floor, but the rest of the first floor…

She hurried to the garden bins, carrying piles of wallpaper bigger than herself. They'd kept tearing off wallpaper with crazy colors and crazier motifs only to keep finding worse ones underneath.

Anabel had had to rub her eyes to make sure when they'd finally reached the walls. After the _fourth_ wallpaper. Mom, red from the effort and with bits of old paper all over her hair, had sent Grandma pictures of it all, and Grandma had laughed at them.

Anabel shoved the paper in the container. No one was watching, so she gave the container a big kick and didn't apologize. It had all been so perfect! Just last week, she'd been tired but she'd had a wailord's smile on her face and a spring in her step. She'd wanted to hug every wall of the new house and couldn't wait for every day to begin.

Mom and Dad had been so proud.

Now her shoulders slumped whenever she saw stuff they still had to change or fix. The paint-stink wasn't leaving and the dark clouds blocking the sun would soon make their mess of a garden even more of a mess.

Anabel didn't want to fix homes when she grew up anymore.

It would've been unfair to kick the innocent container a second time, so Anabel ran back home, muscles tight and fists balled.

"It's scary to look at but we'll have clean walls by tonight," Mom promised. "Even I am not messy enough to go back to work leaving a room in this state."

' _This state'_ was ' _electrode-explosion-zone'_. The brand new floor was filthy and there were actual _holes_ in the ugly bare wall. How did holes get inside a _wall_?

But Anabel smiled because she was supposed to love this. "I don't mind going to bed real late. Dad deserves a pretty study."

Her smile turned true when Dad grabbed her in a one armed hug.

"We should mark our territory," he suggested with a grin. "Draw earthquakes and stuff on the wall before we hang the new wallpaper. Of course, if _I_ draw it, it'll leave whoever finds it wondering if they stumbled on some ancient occult site."

"A wind turbine is easier to draw than an earthquake," Mom pointed out. "Multi-rotor is getting obsolete, but a vortex would just look dull."

Anabel laughed, used to Mom and Dad trying to one-up each other about whose work was better. But her stomach was still one heavy, sticky tangela.

Work lit up Mom and Dad's eyes, it filled them with questions they never got tired of talking about. It made them do silly jokes that Anabel groaned at, when she got them at all.

They loved their jobs. They'd love them forever. They were so proud of each other.

They were proud of Anabel for all the house work, but she hated it now.

She started as Mom knelt behind her and rested her chin on her stiff shoulders, wrapping her arms around her. Anabel had been staring unseeing at the garden. That jungle of tall grass, clovers and weeds that spread over _acres_. The hidden pipes and debris that sliced through shoes and tore at clothes like hungry nails. The dark shadows behind the old greenhouses' broken windows. The climbing vines strangling the second shed.

They'd _barely_ managed to salvage the first greenhouse.

"It looks like it wants to keep us out." Her cheeks reddened. It sounded even sillier out loud. Mom and Dad always spoke of clever stuff to each other, and she… she had nothing clever to say.

"We should build a volcano from sand, vinegar and baking soda," Dad said. "Nothing short of a tractor will tame this land. A little more chaos for science's sake won't do any harm."

 _Volcano?_ "But we're not too busy?"

"'Course not." It tickled when Mom shook her head against her neck. "You can be boringly efficient, live in black and white, or you can put pride and passion into things and still get it all done. Memories are made _,_ Bells. And we're making a volcano."

Mom's voice was soft and warm, wrapping Anabel in loving chimes, but suddenly Anabel couldn't breathe.

June called her _boring_ all the time.

What if Anabel couldn't find her passion? Mom and Dad made it sound so _easy_.

"I've got to go to the toilet," she croaked, sprinting out.

* * *

 **Is anyone reading this?^^**

 **Don't worry, plot and pokemon will be back by next chapter.**


	4. The Haunted House

**CHAPTER 4A: The Haunted House**

 **Thank you 'Tis me' for your kind words. Worry not, I'm not discontinuing anything^^.**

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 **September 1** **st** **340 - Monday**

Anabel's merry step stumbled to a halt halfway through the school hall. Wide hazel eyes met hers and narrowed harshly. If _that_ hadn't been clear enough, June's jaw clenched and she flipped her long blue hair to make it cover the side of her face Anabel could see.

June was _still_ angry at her. It was so confusing. Four _months_ of hating her for no reason, so _forever_ , but it'd take more to ruin school. Anabel's class would be the same as last year's, so she was stuck with June, but now the seniors' building was all hers and she'd gotten the _best_ teacher. All the seniors wanted Mr. C.

The hall's white-brick walls smelled of new and had been stripped bare to host this year's art and science projects. Instead of class pictures, the eleven classroom doors were of a warm yellow, blank slates waiting for them to come in. In front of n°2, Nico had gathered a big crowd. Anabel pushed herself on tiptoes and craned her head. He was showing off pictures, making big gestures with his hands and puffing up with a whole summer's worth of stories. _A marill_. Nico puffed bigger with every question hurled his way.

She'd have to wait a while if she wanted any attention on _her_ stories…

A hand jerked Anabel away from the group. "Pokemon, so overrated," Melodi seethed, holding onto her with pleading eyes. She pointed at the shiny seashell hair-stuffs shaped holding up her brick-red hair. "Look what I got!"

"Pretty," Anabel agreed, smiling at Mel's beaming grin. "Where did you get them?"

"I went to this outdoors concert full of old people, but it was a _band_ playing _,_ with an _electronic harp_ , so who cares, right? They let me wriggle my way to the front, I –"

Mel was a talker, a _big_ one, but one with happy stories, and the air sung with a thousand tiny chimes when Anabel listened to her. Mel made everything she did sound exciting, and it was impossible not to smile back.

"… and everyone harped on and on about my future Journey," Mel was saying, "so I found this in a shop." She opened her bag. "It's waaaay too big, but hey, it's a big message."

'This' was a shirt that fit Mel like a nightdress, with a stick-figure holding a big n°1 badge. _'Don't journey. Be the journey'_ it read.

Anabel laughed. Until she sensed it behind her. Hot anger, burning away her smile.

' _She's the one with a problem,'_ Mom's voice reminded her. _'Stay calm. Politely correct her, change the subject, or walk away.'_

"Look who's too good for pokemon." June, arms crossed and mean eyes staring down. "But I guess no pokemon could ever stand you…"

Meanness made June stupid. "Pokemon like anyone who doesn't treat them bad."

Anabel didn't _hate_ pokemon. She just had other plans. Mom hadn't done a Journey. Dad had hated his. Anabel was ready to go to secondary school straight away. That's where people found what they loved to do.

"You're just scared I'd crush you, Tiny." June was beautiful, but inside she was all venom now. "Your pokemon would beg to join my team."

Could evil ghosts really possess people, or was that a myth? Anabel wracked her brain to understand why June was like this, but she was running out of explanations.

"Are you angry at me because I didn't want to watch the pictures of your new vulpix over and over again?" she guessed. "That was in _April_. I'm _sorry_."

Heavy thumps had Anabel turn away from June's 'are you really that stupid' look.

Red-faced and running, Skye almost slammed into her.

"Anabel!" Skye's hands tightly grasped her shoulders. "Is it true you bought _that_ place?" she said between gasps. "Mom just said. I thought the city was letting nature swallow it up after what happened."

 _What?_

"You bought that big house! The one six miles out of town. _Didn't you_?"

"I… we did," Anabel stammered. She was secretly a little scared of Skye and now the taller girl had her in a death grip. "…after _what_ happened?"

June gasped. "You bought a criminal's house?"

"We did _not_!"

"Yes you did! It was this breeding place before, for the rarest grass types," Skye accused, staring straight at her. "Until they found six dead bodies in there, years ago." _WHAT?_ "Five were pokemon nobody had ever seen before. They were the wrong kind you only get experimenting. The sixth…" Anabel couldn't breathe. Skye didn't lie. Her mom was the town judge. She knew all the crime stories of Verdanturf. "The sixth was the man who called the Jennys and told them everything. He killed himself. The guilt was too much."

"Did your parents know?" Mel whispered, edging away from her.

Anabel could only stare. _That_ 's why it had been abandoned so long?

"I bet it's haunted," Nico chimed. Everyone was pressing around them. There was no place to move. "That's how ghost pokemon are born."

"There aren't any ghosts! There's nothing pokemon, just plants growing all over and stuff!"

They'd found a sentret nest with no sentret inside –which was a letdown: sentret were cute-, and that was _it_.

Anabel tried to breathe but the air was glass shards and mud. They were staring at her like _she_ was scary. How could Mom and Dad not know?

"We could go catch ghost pokemon there…"

"Nico, there aren't any ghosts! It's just –" Anabel fell silent at Nico's hopeful face, struck by an idea. "Listen, my birthday's in November. By then we'll have fixed it all, but you want to do a ghost hunt party?" Her smile tasted like a lie. "The forest around the house is _huge_."

Ten was a very important birthday. People could get their Trainer's Licenses at ten, with Professors handing out starter pokemon from March to August. It would be Anabel's first big birthday party. Grandma's garden was all flowers and no places to play.

"I'm not scared of ghosts," Roan announced. "I'm coming."

Roan was barely taller than her and had a huge bush of deep pink hair on his head, but he was Skye's best friend. _Nobody_ wanted to mess with Skye.

"I'm not scared either," Nico shouted, and suddenly everybody was shouting and talking about the best birthday parties they remembered.

"I bet there's no swimming pool." June obviously. _Just because her new step-dad was rich –_

"Who cares," Roan huffed. "It'll be November."

Roan was Anabel's new favorite person.

"Your parents are so cheap they're happy to live over dead bodies?"

The talk became whispers, and everyone was staring, standing close but not _too_ close. Mel had gone to stand next to Silas, as if Anabel wasn't safe to be with.

"They didn't know!"

June snorted. "Liar. They're idiots anyway. They were like twelve when they had you."

Anabel paled. She'd told June _everything_ once.

"You were an accident," June taunted, arms crossed like Anabel was a disease. "They've got to regret it every day."

' _Wise people don't have a kid in their teens.'_

' _You were the best surprise we ever had, Bells. We'd not have had it any other way.'_

Grandma's voice warred with Mom and Dad's, and Anabel hated how June always got to her. June had no right to say these things. They had been _secrets_.

June looked _so_ gleeful but Anabel's tongue stayed uselessly stuck in her mouth.

"Were they _actually_ twelve?"

Anabel didn't quite dare to glare at Skye. "They were _eighteen_." Mom had been, Dad almost. She mustered a small smile. Skye had shoved June to get between the two of them.

"Can I come over to your house this week?" Skye's tone didn't make it a question at all.

So Anabel nodded.

"Yeah, you'll tell us if there are ghosts."

Nico was _usually_ nice to Anabel, so she didn't scream.

 **September 4** **th** **340 - Thursday**

"Did you warn her that the garden's a re-enactment of the War?" Grandma said as she finished opening all the kitchen drawers and began re-arranging half of them.

Mom and Dad wouldn't like having their stuff moved around, but Anabel was still too annoyed at them to bother complaining on their behalf. They'd _known_. They didn't care.

' _Bells, it's a building.'_ The smiles, the patient tone, like she was so silly.

"The War didn't leave messes," Anabel grumbled. " _Everything_ was gone."

Their teachers at school had been clear about how bad The War had been. People had gone too far, destroying the wilds, exploiting and experimenting on pokemon without caring. The legendaries had teamed up and attacked with huge armies, destroying whole cities. It had been over three hundred years ago, but no one had forgotten. Every city in Hoenn had been rebuilt and whatever ruins there were of the much bigger, old cities, were deep in the ground under tall forests, or even under the sea.

"I did tell Skye it'll take us ages to make it look good…"

Skye was on time but she didn't come alone. The street became gravel in front of the house and the two motorcycles screeched as they parked next to the trash containers.

 _What were Jennys doing here?_

"You can't let them put Mom and Dad in jail," Anabel breathed.

The two clone policewomen were smiling and that was just cruel.

"Don't be absurd," Grandma said. "Let's go greet them."

Grandma was always neat and never goofy. She knew how things were done and how to act around anybody. Anabel let the rhythmic clack of her square heels soothe her.

She'd been very happy walking behind Grandma, but Grandma grabbed her arm and forced her by her side. Anabel blushed and tried to stand tall.

She had never been so close to Jennys, and they really were identical. The same wavy cerulean-green hair gathered in a ponytail, the same athletic build and strict but pretty faces. It was kind of unfair that nobody other than clones could become a police officer, or a pokemon nurse, but Miss Lecter had explained that Jennys and Joys were always honest, driven and loved their jobs, so it was a good deal for society. There had been other clone lines, centuries ago, but they'd been made illegal after The War.

"Good evening, officers," Grandma said, her lips quirking. "This is all very official for a play date."

The first Jenny didn't look any older than mom. She had kind eyes. "We were told written proof would be necessary to convince young Nico that there aren't any ghosts."

Anabel grinned. Nico had brought it up _every. single. day._

"You did this?" she whispered to Skye. Was that what it meant, to be the judge's daughter?

Skye's cheeks went pink, but her jaw stayed set and certain. "If there are ghosts left around here, it's serious enough for Jennys. Besides, they like helping out and mom said it wasn't being pushy to ask."

"Thank you so much."

"You watch and learn."

The smile fell off Anabel's lips. Skye looked accusing. _What had she done wrong?_

A whistle broke the air. "This is going to be fun," the second Jenny said as her eyes swept over the garden.

A pokeball shone white-and-red in the woman's tanned hand.

"What –"

Anabel's jaw dropped. No one, _four_.

Four flashes of white energy revealed four machamp.

Machamp.

Four of them.

Towering, muscled, _so muscled_ , eyes glinting.

Anabel took one step back, and then one cautious step forward. Just… their grayish skin, their four huge arms, and those faces, not-human and yet-

Anabel jumped back with a gasp when they moved, but they were just flexing their arms at her.

"This is Anabel, ladies and gents," one of the Jennys began. "She doesn't think you can fix this garden." _Hey, what?_ "Show her, what machamp do to walls."

Show her they did, with fists as big as her head and punches that made wood seem like paper.

At some point, Anabel's jaw forgot how to shut itself. The old shed's walls –the shed Mom and Dad said they might get around to removing around _November_ \- were a scattering of debris, and it had been less than five minutes.

"I don't believe you've broken it unless you show me all the pieces," Grandma called.

And Grandma began to clap. And the Jennys began to clap. And Skye. One of the Jennys took a _gong_ out of the pack on her motorcycle.

The officer gave Anabel the smooth metal disc and its mallet. "Encourage them. Give them stakes. Like a battle."

 _Go-ooooooong!_

Wow, loud. Anabel grinned.

 _Go-ooooooong!_

"So the female is the strongest. I see." Grandma said, her voice a shout to top the claps and the gong.

The machamp had slowed a little, but hearing that, they all accelerated. Soon the shed was one big pile of rubble and the pokemon went to tear at all the old pipes in the ground.

Pride stiffened those pokemon's strong shoulders. They wildly ripped, smashed, and lifted, over and over again. They shoved each other and waved their clenched fists but, somehow, they felt like a family.

It had been just half-an-hour when the Jennys got one of the machamp to move the containers, each as tall as Anabel, and line up to throw everything they'd gathered inside.

"Pick one machamp for your team," the Jenny urged. "Encourage them and tease your opponents like we do."

"That one," Anabel decided breathlessly. "You! You'll be mine. You're going to win."

Their eyes met and suddenly Anabel could tell him apart from the other three. He had a swing in his arm and the ground shook as he ran. He struck his massive chest with his fists and a roar burst from his chest.

Skye scoffed. "Yeah, right. Mine's the girl. She's toughest of all."

"Kids, I'll go easy on you." Grandma sat in the grass, which, with her dark blue suit, was even more unbelievable than the four machamp. Her eyes were smiling, like she didn't doubt she'd win for one single second.

Anabel grinned. It was on.

She had never shouted so much. She had never thought Grandma could shout and laugh so much.

"Ghosts, no!" Anabel screamed when Grandma's machamp won. Her stomach twisted in denial. "He can't have won, it's not fair!" She blinked back angry tears and chuckled apologetically at Grandma's pointed look.

Grandma gave her an evil grin. "You chose flashy over focused and steady, little girl. Big mistake." She clapped her hands with a delighted laugh. "Now that's how you make a pokemon from wildstock to do chores".

Grandma's machamp was strutting smugly while the other two males sulked. The broad female jumped on the winner's back, and started punching him, but it had to be all play, because he wasn't complaining.

"Machamp love carrying and breaking heavy things," the Jennys explained. "Ours are very special: few pokemon have the temperament to work long-term with the police. It's our duty to value them and adapt as much as we can to them. Learn that, and pokemon will do wonders for you."

Anabel stiffened her eyes darting to Grandma.

Grandma shook her head, her silver earrings glinting in the sunset. "You forget I journeyed as a girl. It made me who I am and I would do it again in a heartbeat. You loved my stories, when you were little, before you decided to listen blindly to your parents."

 _Stories…_ Anabel squinted, searching for memories she'd not looked for in a long time. There'd been… a marowak... Yes… she had liked them.

"So?" Skye's voice was loaded with warning.

"That was awesome," Anabel breathed. "It's so great you could make them come."

Skye's satisfied smile lit up her face. "I had to show you. You get it now."

 _Get what?_ But Anabel nodded gratefully, glad Skye was happy too.

"You know where my Journey's photo album is," Grandma later added in soft tones, as Skye and the Jennys disappeared beyond the gates with one last wave.

The machamp had just left the best trees and the good shed intact. Sad tufts of grass and upturned mounds greeted them instead of a jungle of weeds. It looked less wild now, but not much more like a garden.

"It looks like a herd of rhydon had a party," Anabel whispered, her voice hoarse.

"It's an easy fix with a good gardener. I'll call one by next week."

Her mind full of machamp Anabel just didn't know.

 _'Journeys, the kingdom of children using pokemon for ego-boosts. The era of hiding behind badges count and battles rules as an excuse to ignore your failings.'_

Dad's disgusted face was horrible enough in her mind. Anabel could never face it in reality.


	5. Valeria

**CHAPTER 5: Valeria**

* * *

 **December 9** **th** **340 - Tuesday - 5 months before Journey -**

The air was damp and cool, growing chillier as night pushed the winter sun behind the horizon. The games of pokemon and poacher had left the parks and moved to the wind-sheltered streets.

Anabel's two 'pokemon' allies had fallen to poachers. She crouched alone behind a pile of metal chairs at the front of _The Beer of Youth_ 's wide terrace.

She took a shaky breath, her pounding heart tearing her mind out of the game. She should be at the Cub's club, in her mountain-biking suit, riding up hills and racing through puddles. What if Mom got mad?

' _You're sure you forgot?'_ Mom had said last Tuesday. _'I won't make you go this year if you don't want to. But if you sign up, you must stick to it.'_

Mom had been doing something else, like always, so Anabel had ducked out of answering.

But now Anabel's hands were slippery and her knuckles were white around the chair's cold legs. She'd tried to do everything like before at the club, but she couldn't get it right. June ignored her, except to stare that stare that made Anabel feel like a beginner who didn't even know how to pedal right. June laughed and loved it like nothing had changed. Everyone else did.

' _Coach asked me why you weren't there,'_ June had said the first time _. 'Honestly, I didn't even notice.'_

Anabel wanted to go. She just _couldn't_.

' _Didn't even notice.'_ Some days, Anabel figured the memories of June's smiles and their shared laughter were just her mind playing tricks.

A soft pain in her leg pulled her back to reality.

Roan-the-poacher waved with a grin. How she'd not noticed him sneaking up _-_ Anabel picked up the red-and-white cork 'pokeball' and hurried out in the open. Rainy day games were much quieter than sunny ones'. It was the deal made for being allowed to play so close to houses and shops in case they needed fast cover.

Skye was with Roan. Anabel's shoulders slumped at the look on the girl's face.

"Skye, I have to wait for March to –"

"get a Trainer's License. Nobody can travel in the winter even if they're ten. I _know_ ," Skye said, her eyes darting to Roan who now stood guard. "You said you owed me. Was it just hot air?"

" _No!_ I… I'll figure out how to do it."

Anabel's head still spun from the speed at which the crazy-strong four-armed machamp had beat down the old greenhouse's walls and cleared the garden. Dad and Mom hadn't been upset, but…

' _So you played inside with Skye while the Jennys made the machamp work?'_ Dad had said.

Anabel had nodded before she'd even realized what she was doing. Mom had smiled. _'Officers do know how to make them useful.'_ It had been too late to correct them after that. They'd changed the subject already. Anabel had thought they'd be proud, she'd wanted to tell them about it all, but they'd not even _asked_.

"You're ten," Skye insisted. "You've got the marks. You did great at pokemon camp. You won't get in trouble for catching, not close to your house. You play there anyway."

Skye didn't look special. She was taller than Anabel, but then _everyone_ was. Skye was actually kind of not-pretty, but the way she stood, the clench to her jaw, and the serious about her pale green eyes… Anabel struggled to wrap her mind around the fact she was ten and Skye was only nine.

And _that_ was the problem. Skye could lose her chance at a Trainer's License if she wasn't patient.

Skye opened her fist to reveal a pokeball. Anabel stared. Even she couldn't buy any, not before she had a pokedex.

"It's my cousin's. You won't get in trouble. Are you scared of Volbeat?"

Anabel bristled. "No, but he's shy! What if I don't find him again?"

For her birthday, Mom and Dad had hidden candy-prizes in the forest and left them to search for them in teams, armed with just a few clues and an empty stomach. With Skye, Roan, Mel and Silas, they'd followed the clues to a small vase full of delicious-smelling sugar flowers. And a volbeat.

The volbeat had been so pretty, and not shy at all. Anabel had done like the Jennys had shown her and cheered as he lit up and zoomed around making light-drawings in the air.

She'd found Volbeat again last week when she'd gone to see if the stream had frozen over, and she had sent a picture to Skye.

' _He wants a trainer.'_ Skye had been so excited. _'He's waiting for you to catch him, but he'll give up if you're not quick. I want him.'_

Skye's eyes were stern now. "You won't find him if you don't try."

Anabel shoved the pokeball in her pocket and climbed on her bicycle. She _would_ find him.

 **January 12th 341 - Monday**

' _Make fire. Small fire. Fire to carry.'_

Pokemon hid their words behind the handful of sounds and syllables each species used, but if you listened hard enough, they made sense.

Those dark afternoons walking around the forest calling out for Volbeat with only a small radio attached to her belt for company had been freeze-your-fingers-off kind of fun, but Anabel had finally found Volbeat again.

Volbeat wanted to learn to make fire to make the most impressive light signals of them all.

But he didn't want a trainer. Just fire-signals.

Skye had not been happy. She'd made the worst face. Anabel had thought they'd become friends, but Skye... Skye wasn't mean; she'd even said Anabel didn't owe her anymore. Skye was just… not her friend.

It wasn't fair.

Anabel skipped to the far end of the playground, wearing a big smile so that Mel wouldn't drag her back to play with the others 'for her own good'. Anabel wanted to try out a fire trick of her own. She'd seen awesome videos of tiny fires in glass-like spheres that could burn for ages, and stick-things that burst into harmless flames.

Volbeat wanted fire signals, so fire signals she'd give him.

Anabel sat in the grass on the edge of the playground, where the wooden fence protected from the wind. She sat and moved all the leaves and other stuff that could burn away from the barest patch of earth she could find. Then she made a small pile of grass and leaves in the middle. Satisfied, she took out Dad's magnifying glass. She gingerly blew on them. _Nothing_. She checked the magnifying glass, and the noon sun, and the leaves, _again_.

That video had better not lied.

 _Wait, was that smoke?_

Anabel rubbed her eyes. She was squinting too much. It made her see stuff that wasn't there. She'd burned a tragic amount of holes in leaves. She didn't want any more _holes_.

Steps had her start. _Oh bother._

June sniffed down at her. Next to June, Holly sniffed even louder.

"What's up, Tiny? You're such a weirdo."

Why couldn't they go back to being even just kind of friends?

"I'm trying to get a small fire going," she said, as if June had asked nicely. At least they weren't blocking the sun...

"Why?"

Anabel wasn't going to tell her _that_. June would find a way to ruin it. "Curious," she mumbled.

"Wow, even when you're weird you manage to be boring about it."

Shoulders stiff, Anabel tried to focus on her fire. Hopefully, they'd go away.

 _There!_ Sizzling on the leaves' edges. Awesome hungry tiny flames -

Anabel gasped and lurched forward, shoved by two hands.

 _CRACK!_

Her hand was on the small rocks she'd put around to avoid the fire from getting to the grass. Her magnifying glass was between her hand and the rocks.

Anabel stared, as if the crack would disappear.

She scrambled upright. She _hated_ June. She hated June's stupid friends. _Ghosts, she -_

The two backed off quickly, leaving Anabel at a loss, red-faced and fists balled.

"Holly, you crazy?" Anabel heard June snap as they walked off. "Who told you to push her?"

 _Right_. June just cared about not getting in trouble.

The long crack across the magnifying glass made the shapes all wrong. Anabel's breath hitched. Dad didn't know she'd borrowed his magnifying glass. She had to fix this.

Her eyes darted to Pi, the school's pidgeot. Pi checked that no one got out or in, or got hurt while playing. Pi was a she, an old bird with ruffled feathers, but her eyes were sharp. Anabel remembered one time when kids had started fighting, not pretend-fighting, but with sticks to hurt, and Pi had sent a gust of wind to push them away from each other. Sometimes Pi would send two short keening cries, and everyone stopped to look around, because that was the cry for bullies, and few ever got past Pi.

Pi was staring right behind her, at June and Holly. Anabel wished Pi had whistled. June would be so embarrassed and it would serve her right. People who Pi whistled for too often didn't get to go on Journeys and June couldn't stop boasting about all she'd do on hers.

Pi was as alert as ever.

Luckily the first year kids didn't need much of an excuse to rush about shoving each other. Anabel just pointed out that running with this wind would raise dust like a pack of charging rhydon.

As soon as Pi's eyes were firmly on the hollering firsties, Anabel pushed herself over the brick and railings fence and jumped into the bicycle-parking. Just a few seconds, and she'd be hidden from Pi by houses and trees.

She turned into the street and took a big relieved breath – and froze when she heard footfalls that didn't match her steps.

She had been followed.

She squared her shoulders and spun on her feet, arms crossed.

It wasn't June, but it wasn't a friend either.

Valeria had come from Lavaridge last month. She was among the tallest in the class, almost a head taller than Anabel. Her trousers stopped at her ankles and her wide sleeves were pulled back to free her wrists. It was all grays and browns and a little sad.

"You could get in a lot of trouble." Anabel held her breath. Valeria's voice was barely loud enough to hear. _An excuse. Anabel needed an excuse-_ "Are you okay, Anabel?"

 _Wait, Valeria wasn't here to get her in trouble?_

The girl had been avoiding her since the start. Anabel had wanted to clear things up once during lunchtime, but Valeria spent most her lunches in sick bay.

That day, Valeria had been sleeping, but Mel had spotted Valeria reading a book there once. She'd said it was a new girl thing. _'Being Nurse Nell's friend is great protection and, face it, Valeria's odd and can't dress to save her life. You can't even tell what she's looking at with all that hair.'_

"It's fine." Valeria's tangled long black curls did have a _I want to eat your face_ look, but the girl's silver eyes were staring straight at her, no question about that. "I just… I can help."

Um, right. "You want to go buy something too?" Anabel smiled, she had no reason not to.

"What do you need to buy so badly?" Valeria didn't sound worried, but she was standing less than two feet away now, and Anabel could _sense_ it, like a sharpening in the air.

Weird. But she showed her the cracked magnifying glass. "It's Dad's."

"He'll be mad?" Valeria was still whispering, and her tone almost made Anabel afraid.

"He doesn't know I took it… I just have to fix it." Anabel was _ten_ now. She couldn't act like a little kid. "Mr. Green can fix it. He sells more like it."

Valeria surprised her by speeding off like they were doing a hundred meter sprint, her bushy mane bouncing against her back.

Anabel laughed, rushing after her. "Wait for me!"

They'd started way too fast and had to slow down half-way. The wind teased them with eateries' smells that mixed with the blooming jasmines' as they entered the paved town center.

"I like running," Valeria said. Anabel stepped closer. Why did Valeria talk so low? "It's like I'm on an adventure." Valeria turned to stare at the tree-covered hills that started north of the city. "Imagine running in there, just… exploring."

That was easy _. "_ You should come to my house. It's right at the edge of the forest."

Valeria perked up. "I'd love to come."

 _Really? Then why –_

"If you're not in trouble, why are you breaking the rules?"

"I'm _ten_. It's stupid to say we can't leave the school for lunch."

A thoughtful frown creased Valeria's forehead. "Some people need the rules to stay out of trouble."

Anabel grinned as she thought of Nico trying to use his belt to climb a tree the other day. He'd scraped his knees so bad he'd had to change pants. He'd have to cut it out if he wanted his License.

"That's true," she agreed. "So why did you follow me?"

"I thought you were in trouble."

A smile broke Anabel's lips. Concern was friends stuff, and unlike Skye's serious face, there was something cute about Valeria's. Valeria looked curious instead of stern.

Valeria had gone silent. The air sizzled with tiny fires not-there.

"Why are you angry?" The low voice thing was catching. "Why are you so worried anyway?"

"I heard you're kind of psychic," Valeria said after a pause. The fires were gone. "You defended Nico last week. Nobody else would have. It… it was good of you."

Anabel decided she liked Valeria. "The others just couldn't tell he was that upset."

Nico had said he'd rather buy pokemon and train them than go catch them. _Grubbers_. Those who didn't do any catching and still wanted to be treated as trainers. It was a bad name. But Nico had felt so bad about the looks he was getting, and there _were_ some pokemon for sale… so Anabel had said those pokemon deserved a chance too.

"So you are? Psychic?"

Anabel shuffled her feet. Mel had been the one saying that. Mel had three big brothers, so she knew stuff, but Mel also liked to make everything bigger to sound interesting. Mom and Dad had just said that Anabel paid more attention than most.

Valeria was still staring, her eyes glittering with interest.

"I don't really know," Anabel admitted.

Other people didn't feel the air heat up with anger or sharpen with fear. They didn't hear the soft singing chimes of happy moments. Grandma had told her to keep those things to herself. It wasn't impressive anyway. Uncle Merle had told her of Sabrina, the new Gym Leader in Kanto, who spoke to pokemon in their minds. Sabrina's dad was special too: he could teleport. _That_ was impressive.

"If no one bought pokemon, there wouldn't be poachers," Valeria said as they reached Mr. Green's shop. Her words were soft but… _set_ , as if she'd thought them over and meant every single one. "If you're sure it's legal, though, then it's not bad. "

 _Wh-_ oh, she was still talking about Nico.

"Even buying from a trainer who hurts his pokemon isn't bad," Anabel decided. Trainers couldn't sell to trainers, but it was worse to let bad things happen and do nothing.

"They say abused pokemon go wrong."

"So what, we'd make them right by treating them good."

It was like silent laughter, the nice kind, was coming out of Valeria's silver eyes. "May I call you 'Ann'?"

 _Ann?_ It sure sounded more grown-up than 'Bells', but it was a nickname and nicknames were for friends. "You want us to be friends? You've been avoiding me!"

"I… I changed my mind." She had a crooked tight-lipped smile, something about it made Anabel unable not to smile back.

"'Ann' is great. What do I call you?"

Valeria shrugged. "Mama calls me Vali."

Anabel wanted her nickname to be special. She stared at the taller girl, her brow knitted. It was hard to really see _her_ , with those tangled black curls tumbling down all over and swallowing up so much of her face. And the clothes… Anabel didn't want to think mean things so she decided to forget about those.

It had been years since anyone had come up to her and said 'let's be friends'. Something warm heated up her chest.

" _V_ , I'll call you 'V'."

It felt right, and she couldn't stop smiling after V nodded.

Anabel jumped and waved in front of Mr. Green's so the door's detector would see her, and rushed inside when it opened.

Anabel's smile disappeared when she saw the price of the magnifying glasses. She had enough money on her for the cheapest ones, not the ones that looked like Dad's.

"Can you fix cracked glass?" _Please, please, please._

The bearded shop-owner shook his head. "Sorry, kiddo. It's a nasty crack."

Anabel looked down. _What would she tell Dad?_ She turned when Valeria put her hand on her arm.

"I'll pay for it. Just pay me back quickly."

 _She could?_ "You're rich?"

V's lips twisted and Anabel suddenly felt made fun of. "It's Mama's money."

The air tasted like mud, but only for a second. Even when Anabel paid attention, emotions were like trying to overhear through a thick door. People had to be shouting loud, and making sense of any of it was almost impossible. And of course it was V's mom's money. They were kids.

"That's two receipts for you girls, so you can figure things out," Mr. Green said.

Anabel's sunny mood plummeted when the school came back in sight.

 _Stupid. Stupid !_ "How do we get back in?"

"Through the front door. Look innocent. He's no psychic."

 _So what?_ But V looked certain.

" I had to see Mama, the teachers know, " V said, when Mr. Tiller at the front desk peered at them from under his fat blue eyebrows.

He didn't ask a single question.

"I can't believe that worked," Anabel breathed as soon as they were safely back in the playground.

It was like being in one of those crime movies. Somebody would call her out and then the Jennys would come and ask questions.

V shot her a funny look, her mouth quirking. "You're the one who broke the rules."

Anabel blushed. "Sorry."

"Why? You got me a friend."

Anabel's grin just wouldn't go away.

The fluttering in her chest was snuffed out by an unpleasantly familiar voice.

"What are you doing with _her_?"

 _No, June_ couldn't _ruin this!_

"Trust me, she's no fun at all." June's face said it all. "You're the new girl, you'll see. She's boring."

Shut up. Just _shut up_!

Valeria raised her eyebrows at June. In a not-nice kind of way. "She's not. She's so interesting you can't leave her alone. Holly's not good enough company?"

The two girl's mouths dropped open and Anabel's grin was back with a vengeance.

"You…" June spluttered. "You're so stupid for someone doing their senior year for the second time!"

 _The second - ?_

"It's not Ann's fault your parents split up. Go see a psychiatrist if you can't get over it."

Anabel's breath hitched. It burned. June was burning up.

"You're just as bad as her!" June shouted, shaking with rage. "Buy some clothes and get a haircut, the two of you look pathetic." She spun round and strode off, nose scrunched like they were more disgusting than dead rattata. "They're boring. Let's go somewhere else."

"You don't look bad," Anabel snapped after a silence -too late. She always reacted _too late_ -, fighting to ignore the girls' head-shaking and _weirdo_ mutters.

But Valeria chuckled. It was mocking and not nice. "Holly's always mad too. I bet June would like you too if you hated everything."

But… _why?_ "She used to be so different," Anabel muttered. "We were best friends before she swallowed a sneasel." Valeria frowned. "Became mean," Anabel explained. "She started hating me... I tried to help, I did! I –"

"You didn't make her mad. The divorce did."

Nervous laughter escaped Anabel's lips. This was all June's parents' fault? Not _hers_? Valeria made it sound so _true_.

Valeria, _V_ , absolutely _had to_ be her friend. And Anabel would _not_ be boring.

V's skin had a pretty tan. Hoenn didn't have real cold winters like other places, but no January sun from around here would give you a real tan.

"Did you go on holidays before coming here?" V frowned. "You're tanned."

"It's my skin color."

Now Anabel felt stupid. She could see it now, the hints of a family with far-flung roots. In the wideness of V's mouth, the slight flatness of her nose, the almond shape to her eyes.

"Mama's parents were born in Alola. She was still a kid when they moved. Mama says people built a whole island out of nothing, and the beaches are the most beautiful in the world. There's snow on the mountains too. I've never been though." Valeria smiled, just her lips quirking up and her eyes crinkling. It said 'it's alright.' "Grandpa's _seriously_ tanned."

Anabel grinned back. "It'd be so awesome to go there someday! So where do you live?

"With Mama." V grasped her wrist as the teachers began clapping for them all to gather for class. "She's looking for a new job."

"Your dad's not moving to Verdanturf?" Anabel winced at V's expression, her mind leaping to divorce and how _this was when it had gone so rotten with June._

"No."

Anabel waited for more but more wasn't coming.

She blushed at the silence, scrambling for something to say. "You… it must be great to have your mom at home all the time."

"It is," V said, her eyes lighting up and the awkwardness all gone. "She's teaching me how to cook and I make her read the books I like so we can talk about them."

Now Anabel envied her for real. Maybe V could invite her home after school and share her mom while her parents and Grandma were still at work.

V's stare was back to thoughtful. "You won't journey. Everyone says you won't. You live next to a forest. My birthday was April 9th. I just need to get a License. We could explore and catch pokemon without leaving home as soon as I get it."

 _They could do that?_

Anabel's heart sped up as she remembered the machamp, the thrill of ordering them around and seeing them so happy.

But journeying was serious stuff. Staying home with a License… it wasn't as bad as _grubbers_ but…

"We could keep it a secret," V suggested softly.

A smile bloomed on Anabel's lips. _A sentret, or a volbeat, waiting for her after school -_

"You really don't want to journey?" she checked, her heart racing. Most people who didn't care about Journeys were like Mel and wouldn't like to explore either.

Valeria shook her head. "I have to stay with Mama."

"She hates Journeys too? Dad does. Mom didn't even go…"

"Mama grew up by the sea," V said. "She got a tuber license when she was six and kept changing pokemon and giving them away."

"But she had fun?"

"Sure. She didn't journey, though. She was way shy and told me travelling scared her." V shook her head, her voice going even lower. "I've got to stay with her. She won't mind us going to the forest, though."

Anabel vowed to be extra-polite and get V's mom to love her.

She hadn't expected to meet V's mom right after class.

Anabel stared when V went to hug a mom. It wasn't that the tall lady didn't look nice, even if she was more grandma-old than mom-old, with more gray hair than reddish-black and deep bags under her eyes, but… _V's mom came to get her? Like she was six years old?_

Maybe things were different, in other cities. Anabel rushed up to them with her friendliest smile. "Hello, you're V's mom, right? We played together today."

"Ah, that's… nice." The whispering was a family thing.

"I'd love to keep playing with her." That usually was enough to get invited over, but the woman was like a statue. Anabel flinched as the bite of glass cut into her skin. She'd _scared_ V's mom? Bad enough to _sense_ it? _How –_ "I've got time, I could walk you home…" she volunteered, struggling to keep her smile.

V's mom wasn't answering.

"I won't bother you, Ma'am." Pulling out the _Ma'am_ felt so weird, but Anabel was growing desperate.

"Catch, I…" V's hand was locked tight around her mom's. "We've got to go, Ann."

"Why do you say 'catch'?"

"Because I want to catch the situation in a pokeball and make it vanish. Like you'd catch a pokemon. I used bad words before. Mama helped me find something else."

 _Catch. Catch, catch, catch!_ Anabel laughed. It was a weird swear.

"Tomorrow then, maybe?"

Anabel waited two seconds –but it was really two years- and then accepted she'd get no straight answer, it was just too awkward.

She waved –at least V waved back- and ran after Skye and Roan who were setting up their usual game of pokemon and poachers.

Anabel's chest was tight. Maybe Valeria needed more time to decide if they were _really_ friends.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**


	6. Secrets

**CHAPTER 6 AV: Secrets**

 **A - January 16th 341 - Friday**

Valeria had a secret. Or else she was a liar pretending to be her friend.

It _had_ to be a secret.

Anabel pulled her hood over her ears, ducked her chin inside her coat, and followed after V and her mom as they left right after the end of classes, again.

The sun pulsed weakly behind the menacing clouds, letting shadows swallow up the town. Anabel slid her bright purple schoolbag off her shoulders and hid it under her long raincoat. Why purple? Why couldn't she have picked black, blue, or a paler pink like everybody else? Indistinct chatter barely covered the thumping of her heart as she forced herself not to run, not to stare, and not to stand out.

Paved streets, evergreen trees glistening from the last rain, leaders recruiting for the usual afterschool games, little kids chatting with parents, grandparents or babysitters about their days… everything was very normal.

V not wanting to invite her over and having to go home straight after school every day was _not_.

'I have to,' V had said. _But why?_

Anabel suspected V's mom wanted her to study extra-hard for her Aptitude Certificate. It was still a month and a half away, but V's grades weren't good, and you couldn't move to secondary without it. You couldn't even get your Pokemon License if you messed up too bad.

V would turn _eleven_ soon, and had no License. Maybe… June's insults echoed back in Anabel's mind …maybe she was scared that Anabel would think her stupid for having to do senior year twice.

 _Ghosts, it was so silly!_

Sticky moist wind slammed into Anabel as the streets opened to reveal the park. V and her mom were going to the _park_? Why couldn't Anabel come!

Anabel pressed herself against a thick tree, her breath shallow. She tip-toed forward as soon as she was sure they wouldn't recognize her if they turned.

V wasn't stopping. They were going _through_ the park.

Anabel's wide eyes rose to the apartment complex that lay beyond, those seven square white buildings with small balconies on every floor. The only place in Verdanturf that wasn't gardens and houses.

A metal fence walled the cluster of buildings from the rest of the world, a hostile gnarly thing that screamed _keep out!_

Anabel took a deep breath. _Park Residence._ It was for… poor people.

But V had lent her a whole lot of money… and had looked like she was about to murder Anabel when she'd forgotten to pay her back on Tuesday.

Anabel pulled her sleeves up. She didn't care where V lived. She had to go in there and tell her.

There was a long list of names by the door in the fence, but Anabel couldn't find 'Reed'.

Climbing it was.

Hands aching and slippery, Anabel pulled herself over and groaned when she landed on her feet and knees on the other side. A hundred windows stared down at her from the cold grayish walls. _What if somebody had seen her?_ Anabel bolted, rushing between the first two buildings and into a wide concrete courtyard with empty benches and a few big trees.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

Gray had given way to color.

Everything, walls and ground, was painted: shadows of people, sceneries, not-real-googly-looking pokemon, weird-writings… Paintings on top of paintings, from the gorgeous to those that looked like baby vomit.

A rough hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her round.

Her breath hitched.

"You selling sweets or what?"

She had to twist her neck back to see his face. He was _big_. His chest was inches from her face. He was angry. She'd done nothing, and he was already burning.

' _Crazy people, they go to the residence,'_ June had told her months ago _. 'When they go too crazy to live alone, they go to an asylum.'_

"Uh… _no_. My friend lives here."

His fingers dug painfully into her skin. "Tankshit, I saw you climb over. This look like a zoo?"

"It's true! I couldn't find her name on the list! It's Valeria Reed, she moved here in December! With her mom!"

He wasn't loosening his grip. Anabel couldn't breathe.

"Sure she's your friend? Sure you're not just here to gawk?" The look in his eyes killed her voice. "To run back at school with juicy gossip?" Shaking her craned neck hurt almost as bad as her shoulder, but Anabel was dead if she didn't convince him. "Newbie's all polite. She'd not make you climb fences."

 _He knew V!_ Still, sweat pearled on Anabel's brow. "I think she didn't want me to know… I just want to tell her it's silly. I don't care where she lives!"

His fingers dug deeper in her shoulder, tearing a moan of pain from Anabel's lips."Something wrong with living here?"

"I don't know!" Her heart pounded so hard her vision was blurring. " _She_ 's the one not inviting me! Let me go!"

"Could be, she just doesn't like you."

"I think she's just silly," Anabel replied stubbornly.

She yelped when the boy grabbed her by her coat and dragged her deeper in the complex.

"Stop whining, you don't know what apartment." _Oh, right_. Anabel clamped her mouth shut. "I'll show you. If you lied, I'll feed you to Mrs. S's mighthyena. Loves tasty liars, that one…"

Anabel squared her shoulders and put on her 'I'm so not scared' face. She _hadn't_ lied!

She gasped in relief when he let her go and hurried to keep up as he made for the building with a 5. He tugged her inside an elevator. She didn't dare breathe. He stood close. Too close. His breath warm on the top of her head. His shadow hiding the storey buttons.

The anger-heat was gone, but his face was mean and Anabel's heart raced too fast for her to trust anything except her eyes.

She dropped her gaze, but she could still feel his gaze, like a steel beak against her skull.

"They say fear has a smell." He sniffed the air loudly. _Ghosts,_ he _was_ crazy. "I don't get it. Could be, you're not scared enough."

The elevator's wall was cold and unyielding against her back. There was nowhere to go and he was so close now-.

They stopped with a jolt. _7th floor._

Anabel dashed out before he could block her.

She landed in a bright-lit light-blue corridor with identical doors and two strollers set out of one of them. Strong cooking smells tickled her nose and voices bled through the walls.

The boy followed, his lips twitching. _What if he was tricking her? What if this wasn't V's apartment?_

' _Crazy people,'_ June's voice whispered. _'Nico's great-uncle went there to die because he hated his family so much.'_ But it was just a silly rumor, right?

Her eyes darted to the emergency stairs on the left. _She could -_

She sucked in a breath when he knocked on one of the doors. "Hello? It's me."

"What do you want, Sir?" It was V!

And now the guy was grinning. V's slight smile faded when she saw Anabel.

"Shorty climbed over the fence. You ashamed to live here, newbie?"

"That'd be dumb, Sir," V replied after a pause. "Come in, Ann. It stinks of onions."

He was blocking the way. He winked at Anabel.

 _Winked_. Now he was chuckling.

"You rich kids get terrified real easy," he said, bumping into her as he left, his chuckles echoing behind him.

That had to be the first time _ever_ she'd been called rich.

"He's old enough to be a 'Sir'?" She rubbed her aching shoulder. Her heart was still threatening to break through her rib cage and he'd been _teasing_ her all along? _What a -_

"Nah, he's seventeen. It makes him happy, though. He's a good friend to have here. Knows everybody."

V's mom was there, in the kitchen, which was also the living room. Everything was so… _clean_. V's mom was holding back, her brown eyes wide. Anabel blushed.

"Sorry, I… but… V's my friend! I don't care if your house is small!"

"Don't shout," V hissed.

Nalani smiled slightly, but she was still wringing her arms and her eyes weren't smiling along. Anabel didn't dare get closer, afraid of the bite of glass.

"You can go to the room," V's mom said, still with that not-quite-smile.

The room was a bedroom, and suspiciously neat too, with white walls carrying cheerful pictures of V and her mom, a wardrobe in the wall, and a square window that showed the courtyard. A deep relieved breath filled Anabel's lungs and she let herself fall on the big bed. There were no nightstands, only a chair with neatly folded clothes on them and a shut suitcase with two readers on top. The frame squeaked.

V was still standing. And staring with eyes full of questions.

"I'll bet nobody experimented on pokemon in _here_ ," Anabel said with a tentative smile.

"We'll be moving in a month, to the fourth floor, where I can have my own room," V whispered, her arms locked around her chest. "Wasn't available before."

Anabel frowned, picturing a crazy man being forced out of a room with two bedrooms. Until the words sunk in. "You sleep with your mom?" _That was…_ "Does she snore?"

"She doesn't. It's fine."

No it wasn't. "V, we have two spare rooms in our house. There aren't any ghosts, I _promise_."

V finally sat too and scooted over next to Anabel, a smile crawling up her lips. "It's fine. It was a rush. This was the best apartment back then. Mama will find a job soon and we'll rent a house."

 _Wait -_ "People here, they're just living here because they're looking for jobs?" June was such an idiot.

"They live here because they can't or won't pay for another home. In Building 1, there's almost only artists, like painters or musicians. They keep their money to do their thing, so they live there all together." V smiled wryly, like she'd read her mind. "The nutters aren't many."

Anabel blushed furiously. "I didn't –"

"I'm not deaf," V cut in. "I know what people say. Mama was also worried. We're new so… we can't..." Her heels kicked against the bed. _Squeak. Squeak. Squeak._ "We were scared too. It's fine, though."

"You know I'm your friend, right?"

"I think so," V replied, eyes very much wide and watching.

Anabel bristled. She'd _prove_ it. "You have games? Or I could cook with you guys. You should come over to my place, with your mom too. Mom and Dad are pretty bad at cooking…" Her eyes flashed towards the living-room kitchen. "If you need to study for the Aptitude Cer-"

V narrowed her eyes so fast Anabel fell silent.

V jumped to her feet. "The neighbors lent us a few games. There's a couple we haven't tried yet." She placed a loud kiss on Anabel's cheek.

Anabel grinned and followed after her.

 **V - January 26th 341 - Monday**

"Volbeat! Volbeat, where are you! Come _on_ ," Ann huffed. "He _knows_ I'm not allowed more than one mile away from home. I _told_ him."

Valeria flashed her torchlight up and down, left and right, making the light-beam dart between the evergreen trees and the long shadows cast by the setting sun. The tallest branches glowed golden-red, swinging slightly to the cool wind.

 _Crunch_. Her foot buried itself in a nest of dead twigs. She crouched to search through them.

She sighed in relief. "No, he's not in here. He's alive, I can feel it. We must go on."

"You've been reading murder books again," Ann accused."Volbeat!"

Valeria grabbed the curls flying into her eyes and slipped them under the big clamp holding back her hair. She squinted to better see through the criss-cross of branches.

She was in a real forest, having adventures with Ann. It was the best.

"There's this character, Lief, he knows tracks and tracking. He says grass and bushes have stories to tell."

Ann kicked at the grass, shaking her head. "I don't talk bush, and does he tell how to track somebody who _flies_?"

Books always left out the most important things.

They both perked up when a high note broke through the air. ' _IH!'_

"That's a sentret whistle. Maybe it's Volbeat's friend," Ann exclaimed, grabbing Valeria's arm. "Let's find it."

The roots made thick knots all over the grass, eager for feet to trip. Treacherously invisible in the gloom, the lower branches reached out with their thin fingers. Valeria could tell the woods were friendly and happy to see them, though.

' _IH!'_ Closer, they were closer. _'IH!'_ Wait, no, _that_ way.

A root almost got her when Ann stopped dead. She was giving the trees the stink eye.

"Sentret cheat," she accused. "They keep changing place until you go crazy. They got me in trouble before because I was too far." Ann checked the map on her vidphone and groaned. "A mile already? Really? Dinner's in forty minutes... We should go back."

She groaned again, opening her arms as she faced the empty forest. "Why does he hide? I told him I'd get him his fire! Do… do you think somebody else got him lights? He'd better not have gotten impatient and gone to look for girls already. I told him I was hurrying!"

' _IH!'_

Volbeat was lucky Ann hadn't given up on him. "Look, Ann, it's a murkrow in there."

The bushes cast long shadows under their torches, and just with a flick of her fingers, Valeria could make normal boring branches grow a beak and spread their wings.

A round rock flew for the murkrow and Ann pushed Valeria's torchlight away from the bush. "Pokeball! He's mine now," Ann laughed. "I'll teach him Wing Attack and we'll swoop through the first badge."

Ann's joking made the shadows even more magical. _A Journey_. It was right there and yet so far. "You think we could catch a pokemon without a starter, Ann?"

"Ghosts, no. They left Mel, Silas and I seven miles from Littleroot Town at camp last year, on the very first day. Said to take the bus and meet them in two hours in the town, that it was an orientation test. But that wasn't the _real_ test. A beautifly came close and was all friendly and awesome, and so we decided to catch it. Mel said not to, but she was only doing camp because her brothers would tease if she didn't, so…".

Mel didn't know her luck.

"The beautifly attacked us and we broke two pokeballs on it. He shot spores all over and Silas got hit and almost fainted. He was alright, but he had to wrap his hand when it wouldn't stop bleeding. It was the Ranger's beautifly and a test. Didn't you do that at your pokemon camp?"

"This tree's great to climb!" Valeria wasn't quite ready to say she _hadn't_ been to camp. "Volbeat will see us better if we make signals."

When Ann grinned, her smile filled her whole face and her eyes went so wide, as if Valeria had made this the best day ever with her idea. Valeria smiled back, feeling warm all over.

She _had_ to get a License.

They were as close as the top of tree as they dared, the wind whipping all around and making the whole forest dance. There were no stars, and soon something thick and darker than the night stole away the moon.

"Look at those clouds." Ann took out Volbeat's _fire_ , baubles that filled with tiny shooting stars when you shook them. She lifted her arm up high, waving at the forest. "Maybe that's why Volbeat's hiding. We should climb down. It's going to be a storm."

Thick dark-blue clouds gathered tight, an army blocking out almost the whole sky. Flame licked the edges, one of the deepest reds Valeria had ever seen. She couldn't stop staring. The Aptitude Certificate exams were looming just a month away and soon they would stay inside to study, barred from exploring the world.

She couldn't fail.

She didn't want this to end.

"Shorter path home is that way. Come _on_."

Valeria tensed. Ann had a deeper voice than most girls, and it went threatening when she got serious.

Ann had already let herself down on a lower branch and twisted her head back at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be bossy. The air gets heavy before a storm, but it's not that bad yet, so we'll be home in time."

A smile quirked Valeria's lips. _Psychic._ Not the kind that stole your secrets. The kind that cared.

Oo*oOo*oO

Some kids at school had told scary stories about Darkrai and ghosts that stole you at night, still, Valeria had never been scared of the dark.

 _This_ dark was alive though.

"The wind is much louder here," she whispered, bundled up in her sleeping bag next to Ann.

The Lilas' house was like a fairy tale, a mansion in the middle of nowhere. It was full of stone and wood, big windows and colored pillows. There were so many rooms, and the one Mama slept in had even a tiny terrace with flowers on it. There were no loud neighbours, no bad cooking smells, and they could run around and shout as much as they wanted.

Tonight, though, the fairy tale was turning dark. The roof whistled low, the trees groaned and creaked, and _something_ was softly running its nails against the shutters. _Leaves, just leaves._

"The wind gets loud here, but it can't get in, you know."

 _Said the girl pulling the covers closer..._ "How do you make sure bad pokemon don't attack?"

"Because they don't," Ann replied. "Pokemon and people haven't been enemies since the War. We can't afford to be."

"That's just a law. Loads of things aren't right and still happen."

She'd never go back. She had a real proper life now.

Ann huffed. "Mom and Dad aren't scared. I'll ask tomorrow, okay? And if they don't know, Uncle Merle will. He works with wild pokemon. He knows everything about them."

"Okay," Valeria said, a little reassured.

A rock blocked her throat. Mama would freak out if Valeria told her she wanted a License.

She yawned and rolled down on the mattress on the floor to let Ann stretch out and sleep.

It was a bit of a betrayal when Ann fell asleep super quickly. Valeria shifted and turned and just couldn't find the right position. She sneaked out of the room and tiptoed down the stairs and into the kitchen hoping a glass of water would fix it.

The open kitchen was red and gray and brand-new shiny. Inside the cupboard, though, things kept changing places and sometimes were stacked to trap you and fall down when you opened. Valeria didn't quite dare to touch anything.

Not that she needed a glass to drink. Cupped hands worked just fine.

A noise had Valeria freeze in the darkness. The front door opened. Ann's mom was back. Valeria ducked behind the counter, glad she hadn't turned on the lights.

Robin's big black shoes could easily stomp sentrets to death. They were thick and ugly and belonged on a scary man's feet. A shimmering yellow scarf big enough for Valeria to sleep in wrapped Robin from elbows to chin. Underneath, a sleeveless black top she must've borrowed from Max loosely hung down.

Ann's mom didn't care about clothes. Max didn't care that his wife didn't care. He didn't care much either, still, he got seasons right. He also didn't care that Robin went outside without him.

Robin liked to go see the stars. 'She needs alone time' Ann had said.

Robin walked out of her clothes, leaving them lying around bundled on the living room floor and wrapping herself in a bathrobe even yellower than the scarf. One of the shoes was properly by the door, the second one almost two yards away, its thick black sole facing upwards like an open jaw.

Shoes like this might even be good for walking on lava rocks. Max was the one who sometimes went to Lavaridge, though. He worked on earthquakes. Robin worked on wind and electricity, using words even Mama didn't understand.

' _I'm just one thing,'_ Ann had said after showing off her mom's mountain biking trophies. Ann had a small one too. _'They love me and I matter, but… you're_ everything _to your mom. She's asks you so many questions about your day and… boring stuff! Not that you're boring, not at all, it's just adults…'_ Ann got red like no one else. It was so cute. _'Sometimes… sometimes Mom and Dad get distracted and forget about dinner and then… then we eat stuff from boxes and I can't tell Grandma because she'd get angry.'_

Valeria had laughed so hard. It had made Ann grumpy but Valeria couldn't help it. She tried to understand Ann, she did, but as she watched Robin push her discarded clothes in a small heap with her bare feet, right in the middle of the living room floor – _Mama would never have dared_ -, Valeria grinned. Mama couldn't resist cleaning up a bit when she came. For all that it was messy though, the Lilas' home was happy. There was no fear here, none at all.

"Valeria!" Robin whisper-exclaimed, making her jump. "Isn't it a late for hide and seek?"

Something happened to Ann's mom's face and she doubled back and grabbed the shoes and clothes, setting them back and making a neater pile. The smile she gave Valeria didn't belong on a mom. It was embarrassed, like Valeria had just caught her doing something bad and might tell on her.

"Cookies?" Robin offered, turning the kitchen light on.

Late night cookies weren't a thing you said no to. Valeria nodded eagerly.

Ann always brought four instead of two cookies to recess, so she could share. Valeria'd buy her a whole mountain of cookie boxes when she'd get rich.

She caught herself staring at Ann's mom again as she wiped the crumbs off her fingers. With her wide-set purple eyes and short copper hair that didn't stay flat, Robin had an interesting face. It wasn't the normal kind of pretty, Max was the pretty one, with his long pirate hair and big smile. Robin's face made Valeria want to look, though.

"Valeria, if I understand it well, your mother has been substituting for sick people at the warehouse."

"She'll soon find something permanent." Valeria couldn't wait to get a real home with a garden where she could invite Ann back.

"It's... does she see people, other than us? She seems a little lonely to me."

Valeria looked down, unprepared for the panic those words sparked. Mama was invited over with her every time. She'd been teaching the Lilas to cook properly and everyone was happy. _Valeria_ was there, Mama couldn't be _that_ lonely.

"Valeria, adults can be weird. You're doing everything right, but… that doesn't mean we can't help too."

 _Help_. Valeria was supposed to be glad, not mad. She took a slow breath and had to swallow a big fat yawn to not look rude.

"Nalani told us about your father while you two were out."

Valeria's eyes widened. Then narrowed. Robin was leaning on the kitchen counter and still looking at her like she liked her. If she'd heard for real, she should hate her.

"Your mother said there's a restraining order against him because he'd been abusive," Robin said when the silence got long. "She said you might tell Anabel and so she wanted us to be forewarned."

Valeria took a shaky breath. "I hope I'll never see him again." It felt so _good_ to say it. She couldn't at school. Kids didn't hate their dads. Not like she did.

She stiffened when Robin moved, but Robin just gestured to the couch in the living room. Valeria sat down at the opposite end, her knees tucked under her chin and her shoulders digging into the pillows.

"You're not alone. Neither is your mother. You're Bell's best friend. You can tell. We'll help all we can."

Valeria was so happy she'd become Ann's friend.

"V, there's no shame in what happened. I know this must be hard -"

"I'm fine," Valeria interrupted, sitting up straighter. Mama had told. The words were warm bubbles rolling down her throats. Strange, but... _good_.

She leaned back against her hands, digging her fingers in her tangled hair, happy for the comforting weight. "I was bad. I wish he'd hit me. I wish he'd hit Mama." He'd have been put in jail, instead of all the poison.

Now Robin was looking at her like she was nuts. "I don't understand. You're not bad, Valeria."

She had been _._ "He… Mama was strict. She never joked or -. Da-" The word stayed stuck in her throat, bitter and burning. " _He_ played with me, gave me gifts and took me places. Mama never did." _No, no, lies._ _His lies!_ "No, she did sometimes. He made me forget those, though. When I said I had fun with Mama, we talked, and after, somehow, it's like my memories changed. He destroyed the fun."

He would delete the pictures Mama had taken _'they're not that good, are they?_ ' He'd laughed at those pictures, hugging Valeria, and she had laughed too, because it had been _obvious_ after he'd said it that Mama was terrible at taking pictures.

"Mama… I thought she was a bit dumb. He had to explain everything to her and remind her things she should have known. She wasn't good at being good."

' _I'm going to teach you a big word today, Valeria,'_ Dr. Fiori had said. _'Gaslighting.'_

Valeria would run away deep into the forest rather than ever go back.

"Why did…" Robin bit her lip. "Your mom told me the early years of their marriage were happy. Did you feel that way?"

"She… she said he was great." _Everybody_ had said he was handsome and charming, and that she and Mama were so lucky. "Mama hated her job so she was glad to quit. They traveled a lot together. He paid for Grandpa's, Mom's dad, stay at the retirement home."

It was hard to believe the stories where Grandpa was fun, or even _nice_. Grandpa could never be bothered to get out of what he was doing long enough to pay attention to Valeria. Except when she'd tried to touch one of the boat models he made. He'd gotten so mad the nurse had had to intervene.

 _He_ had found them by using Grandpa after they'd left. The judge had made sure there would be enough money for Grandpa. He'd forgotten to get Grandpa to a new place _he_ didn't know of, though. Mama was so scared she just used video-talks now, even if Grandpa kept asking her to come over.

"Mama showed me vids where I was little and they laughed and looked happy." Valeria was so proud of Mama for destroying the vids and not crying about him anymore. "They met… Mama was almost forty. She wanted a family so bad and they were in love. So she married him. When I was six, he got a great new job, so we moved to Lilycove. It was all good, at first. Then… then he started getting stressed out and Mama wasn't good at respecting the rules and helping him relax." Valeria had never understood the exact rules, just that Mama kept breaking them. "He-"

Valeria's words blocked in her throat. She'd been the bad guy too.

"What did Mama tell you?" she said hoarsely.

"That he was financially and emotionally abusive, isolated her… That she put herself in a position where she second-guessed her feelings and sanity. That his opinion conditioned her self-esteem…" Robin's frown dug deep. "She gave me the words she got from her doctor, Valeria. Not the examples. Nalani never worked again?"

A choked noise scraped Valeria's throat. He'd been _evil_. "Mama worked from home for a call center. He kept all the money though, and… He'd just _known_ when she tried to do something without permission." Or Valeria told him. He'd reward her, and she'd feel important. "He'd give me money to go buy ice-cream and play outside. Once, I came back early, and Mama was screaming and crying, and he was just talking, hugging her. He'd shout, though, if she got mad when I was around. To protect me. I… I thought he was a great dad."

She hated him so much.

"This went on for a year? Two?"

"Pretty much. He… he kept telling Mama he loved her and helped her be better." _Lies, lies, lies, all of it_. "Some weeks he was the nicest man. He bought Mama pretty things. If Mama broke a rule, though, she'd not be allowed her things." Her voice lowered. "I didn't know, about the money." She'd loved Dad for sneaking her snacks.

"You couldn't have known, sweetheart. You were very little."

Sometimes, Valeria couldn't understand why Mama didn't hate her, even a little bit.

"One day, I was eight; I helped with the chores for some reason. He went nuts when he found out. He told Mama he'd leave with me and no judge would let her see me. She cried."

Valeria had never thought about _why_ Mama would stay until that day. She remembered being so confused, because it made no sense that Mama would _want_ her. Dr. Fiori had later made her realize that this was the moment Valeria had begun to see Mama like a real person.

"That's not how it works."

Valeria took a shaky breath. "I know that now." Without Dr. Fiori, it would have been _impossible_ , though. "He was… My friends were so jealous when I told all the things Dad and I did together."

It'd have been better if he'd hit her.

"After that, it was just all bad days." She would stay out to play as late as she could and then hide in her room in a bubble of music, her knuckles white on her reader. One day, seeing Mama clean up the house in her nightdress, and cry, because she wasn't finished and he'd soon come back from work, had made Valeria snap. "We left."

It took a whole week to get things ready. She'd been so proud of Mama when she'd found out about the money saved in secret.

The _before_ was a bit fuzzy. Those days were clear memories, though. It had been winter, the driest season, but that first apartment had been so dank it had been hard to breathe. _Mama having nightmares all the time, being so scared of strangers, losing her new job because some days she just wasn't brave enough to go._

At least they talked, though. For the first time, Valeria got to know Mama, and Mama was pretty brilliant. Mama didn't hate her even if Valeria had been so bad.

Mama deserved to be protected and told it wasn't her fault.

"So your father was denied custody?"

"No, no, I saw him half the time." Valeria had been sure it'd be brilliant: Mama happy without having to give up Dad. "We did fun things like before, but... He got me to complain about living with Mama. If I didn't, he'd get upset." She'd just wanted them both to be happy.

"But he doesn't have custody now." Robin's elbows were on her thighs. She was clutching her hands tight. _Was that an angry frown? Did Robin think she was bad now?_

Dr. Fiori had said it _wasn't_ her fault! "He broke the rules," Valeria hissed. She _wouldn't_ miss him. "He came to the apartment. He made Mama feel bad for living there. He said he loved her, that he was so sorry and needed her help to change." _Liar_. "He kept calling, and sending letters and nice gifts. We went back." He'd been so nice at first, and then he'd started it all again, treating Mama like she was dumb and ridiculous. _'Don't you care about Valeria? Don't be so selfish.'_ Valeria didn't remember the fight, only that it had been bad enough for her to sneak up to the closed door and listen in. She remembered _that_ sentence, though. As if it all was _Valeria's_ fault if Mama was miserable.

She'd run home from school one morning to pack their things. _The look on Mama's face then._

"He hadn't changed. We decided to go far away. We left to Lavaridge last winter, and then here in December." They'd made fun of her, for failing her senior year. Now that she'd found Ann, though, she was glad she had.

And Verdanturf was so nice, all grass fields and gardens and colored brick homes. It wasn't as warm as Lavaridge, almost chilly some days, but the air was the freshest Valeria had ever breathed.

She tensed at Robin's aghast expression. She ducked her head, letting her hair tumble around and hide her face. "Mama's better. We're not the ones who need help." Her heels kicked hard against the sofa. "Maybe some people in Verdanturf need help."

She'd tried to notice in class. She hadn't seen anything. No one had noticed for her, though. She had not noticed for _herself_ for years. She'd thought Ann needed help, that day she'd jumped over the fence at school.

Ann's dad had figured she was friendly when she'd hugged him. It was so much more than that, though. Max was _good_. To both Ann _and_ Robin. He was short for a dad, but Robin wasn't that much taller than _Valeria_ , and Max had enough muscles to get his way. He'd scared the life out of her when she'd slept over the first time and heard a beastly shout from the bathroom. Ann had explained that her dad needed a cold shower to wake up and liked being the house's terrifying alarm clock.

Ann laughed when her dad shouted. It was almost too strange to be real.

Valeria kept staring at her knees. If Ann started to hate her, then...

"What a horrible man. Nalani was right to tell you to change names."

Valeria smiled a little. Valeria Chester hadn't known truth from lies. Valeria _Reed_ , though, was a whole new person. Reed was Mama's grandma's name. A good name. A common name to make them invisible.

"Do you still see a therapist?" Robin had _that_ look.

Valeria's arms locked protectively across her chest. "No. I did, though, for a long time!" She took a calming breath, not wanting Ann to overhear. "Dr. Fiori, back in Lavaridge, made me good. It's over. I'm not…I'm good now."

Robin narrowed her eyes. Pity gave them a bright sheen. She... she - _No!_

"You've met Mama!" Valeria exclaimed, bursting to her feet. "It's not like…" Mama was _safe_ now. She had the Lilas to be with.

Ann's mom shifted over and surprised her with an affectionate arm around her shoulders. So Valeria sat back down.

That ugly yellow bathrobe was soft like silk and comfy for real.

"Of course you're good. You know… if I say something wounding, it's that I phrased it wrong. Adults can be awkward too."

 _Oh_. Valeria breathed in and stopped twisting her hair with her fingers, the stress slowly melting away.

"We care, V. If Ann doesn't react well, I'll talk to her," Robin said, squeezing her shoulder. "Sometimes we get awkward when we don't know what to say, and we say stuff we don't mean. It's… the brain can need time to settle."

An oddly pleasant rock was stuck in Valeria's chest. "Thanks," she managed.

When Valeria crawled back under the covers, she smiled at Ann's sleeping form. Ann's face was all eyes, so full of life during the day. All bundled up and relaxed, Ann was like a tiny baby, her peachy skin slightly flushed from the pile of blankets she slept under.

The trees were still screaming.

It wasn't scary anymore.

* * *

 **Alright, the characters are set. Time to shake things up. Stay tuned^^.**


	7. Wrecked Plans

**CHAPTER 7: Wrecked Plans**

* * *

 **A big thank you to my guest reviewers (I feel frustrated to not be able to message you all^^). Especially 'Guest' for your detailed comment. Like others have said before me, feedback isn't why I write, but it's definitely why I post.**

I write from a French keyboard, hence the 'double arrow' (this «») look to some quotation marks. I have no clue why it switches between 'straight' (" ") and 'double arrow' quote types. Any left over «» is an oversight from my part.

* * *

 **March 27th 341 – Friday - 6 weeks before Journey-**

"Look at it!" Ann shook from laughter, struggling to keep the vidphone straight as the three men trying to ambush the persian with nets screamed and jumped into the river to escape the furious pokemon. "They never learn!"

' _Do not attempt this at home.'_ The flashing text at the bottom of the video read. _'These are professional teams with backup pokemon for self-defense.'_

"They're so silly." Ann rolled over in the grass to a seated position. "I bet they cut the video just before that persian dived in and tried to eat them.»

"They're greedy," Valeria muttered, eyes latched on the screen. "The forest is full of surskit, seedot or budew. Those people's catching tactics, they'd work on those."

Suddenly, Ann was Serious with an S and shoved her vidphone in her belt-pouch. Their eyes met, heavy with understanding. Ann didn't dare ask her parents about starters. She was supposed to be different, like them, and love anything _except_ pokemon. Valeria couldn't tell Mama she wanted to travel. That she loved Mama to pieces, but that sometimes, Mama's hugs were heavy and made it hard to breathe.

"I've still got Skye's pokeball. She never asked for it back."

"We'd train it here, Ann? In secret?"

"Yes. Then we see if we even _like_ pokemon. It's not worth to tell if we end up changing our minds."

Valeria shot a quick look at the empty house. Mama was covering a late shift and Max and Robin would not care as long as she and Ann were back for dinner.

It was now or never.

"We've got our own moves, Ann. We can grab a big stick," Valeria said, doing just that. "We can shout and show them we're tough. We can get them in a bag. It's not so different. We… "

"We'll make them special," Ann finished breathlessly. "Come on!"

Ann held back nothing. Not when she spoke, with that loud voice that rang almost too deep for a child's. Not when she smiled, that disarming smile full of teeth that was happy and nothing else. Ann ran, skipped, jumped, too full of life to simply walk. When she laughed, and she laughed often, it was loud and long and unrestrained. Valeria wanted to bottle that laugh and smuggle it under her pillow, to have it with her always.

"And at worst, what's a couple of scrapes?" Ann said with a grin as they ran deeper in the forest. "If we like it, we'll get more pokeballs, and we could convince a swarm of surskit, a whole family. Won't they like it, to stay together?"

"We won't even need pokeballs then. We'd make them clever, teach them to fight together."

"They'd become the strongest surskit of all the ponds and rivers around here!" Ann laughed triumphantly and grabbed V's shoulders. "And we'd have all our pokeball to catch all the rest !"

Ann held back nothing. She was fearless and invincible.

The girls sighed as one when the first raindrops spluttered against the leaves.

"If they were legendaries, we'd let no rain stop us."

"Ann, surskit _are_ legendaries," Valeria deadpanned. The stream was close enough that they could hear it.

Anabel grinned, breaking into a jog. "They won't hear is with all the rain."

The stream was a brownish green, filled with root bridges from all the moss-covered trees.

Ann grabbed Valeria's hand, jerking her closer to the shore. She pointed. "Look!"

A handful of tiny, blue and yellow surskit skittered on the water's surface, on the other side of the stream.

"The first swim of the year is lucky," Ann declared with a broad grin.

Valeria gingerly touched the water. It was _cold_. She'd not freeze to death, though. Besides, hardship was part of adventure. She removed her clothes, an over-sized long-sleeved gray shirt on top of another shirt and thick black sweatpants, and tried to slide in without making ripples.

She tightened her grip on the thickest root around as her feet slowly sunk in mud. This had better not be not be quicksand. Soon, shivering with water up to her stomach and slick mud up to her knees, she was stable.

Ann joined her and slowly, they began to cross.

"Wait, no!" Ann gasped. The surskit scattered, running on their thin thin legs that could walk on water.

Valeria pulled on her arms, splashing and freeing herself from the mud to swim for real. No use. The surskit had disappeared.

"Well, that was…predictable," Ann admitted, shooting Valeria a dirty look and shivering dramatically.

So Valeria splashed her.

Foreign voices broke through their splashing and laughter and they turned around in a panic, drenched from the stream water and rain.

 _A trainer_. A real trainer with a backpack and a big-eyed swampert that opened its mouth it what could've been a toothless grin. Or a shocked gasp.

"It's naked girls!"

Two trainers. Boys.

Valeria and Anabel jumped out of the water –proving they weren't _totally_ naked- and dashed for their clothes.

The unvoiced plan was to run as if they were chased by a tyranitar, because _what if those two found out they'd meant to catch a pokemon and Valeria didn't even have a License?_ Twigs and sharp stones dug into their bare feet. They had to stop.

"Dad's going to murder us," Ann said, her horrified eyes going from the pile of wet clothes she hugged to her chest to the mud all over her legs.

"We have to risk it. We can't survive on our own here." Besides, it was raining _hard_.

"We could, if we had Journey gear… Did you see them, V? That swampert was huge, and those boys... They looked so… confident."

They'd looked terrified to Valeria. _'If we had Journey gear'._ She couldn't help her smile, even if was just a dream.

Max didn't _murder_ them. It was close though. 'It was already wet because of the rain anyway' was apparently a terrible excuse to go swimming.

Robin didn't shout. She snapped a picture before they could wash, though, and was still teasing her and Ann after dinner. That stung.

 **April 5th 341 – Sunday**

Valeria's jaw hurt from clenching so hard.

She sat at the edge of her tent, knees tucked under her chin, staring unseeing at the sparse trees struggling to grow over the rocky ground.

Anger she knew well. Anger at Da- _Chester_. Anger at Chester and his lies, anger because it was so hard for Mama to be happy. Dr. Fiori had said anger was okay, as long as it didn't control her.

Valeria yearned to get out, grab the tent and throw it down the cliff.

It had been like a dream come true. Mama had found a real job, at the pokemart. Mama slept better now. She was less scared of people and sometimes went outside just for fun. They'd have money to rent a house. It had been like the world was back to right and happiness was not just a thing for fantasies in her mind.

Valeria's nails dug into her palms. She owed it to Mama to be strong.

A thousand stars shone through the cracks between the clouds and Valeria tried, she tried so hard, to get back that wonderful excitement about their camping trip in the forest.

A whole weekend, just her and Mama, a few miles south of Verdanturf, to camp in the prettiest hills. That's what Valeria had understood.

If this was punishment, then it was a sneaky, horrible one. Mama shouldn't know yet, though, that Valeria had finally gotten her License; thanks to Dr. Fiori's letter and Mr. C's help.

Valeria had _told_ Mr. C it was to be a surprise.

When Mama had put on nice clothes with color that made her light up and even some makeup, Valeria had found it strange. She'd told Mama she was pretty, though, because it was true and it made Mama smile.

Valeria should have suspected. _Catch, she was dumb!_

Mama had always made herself beautiful the days she wasn't forbidden her clothes and makeup. Chester would say mean things when she didn't try hard enough. He'd say mean things even when Mama couldn't do anything about it because he had locked her things away. He'd been _nuts_. Valeria had had very pretty clothes then too. He'd always noticed and she'd loved it. Now she didn't care. She didn't want to care.

' _He's got tents and everything. He knows the land. We won't get lost and see the best parts.'_

 _That's_ the excuse Mama had given. Valeria swallowed down scorching betrayal.

Her mother was in the other tent. With a man. Some delivery truck driver from Mauville. Someone she'd never told Valeria about.

' _He's just a friend.'_

A friend. Valeria had barely met him and already Mama was lying again. Grownup ladies didn't share a tent with male friends they barely knew. How long had Mama known him and kept a secret? Valeria clutched the sleeping bag harder. She'd borrowed it from Ann. It was the only thing around here which wasn't his.

 _Catch. Catch it and throw it away forever._ Valeria ground her teeth harder to stop a scream from waking Mama.

Some ugly man turning Mama into a liar wasn't even the worst.

' _Mauville's a beautiful city. It's going to be much more fun than Verdanturf.'_ Mama had dared say it with a smile. _'We'll live in a proper house, Treasure.'_ His house! _'My trial period will soon be over and the permanent vacancy is at the pokemart in Mauville. We can start over, Vali, finally.'_

' _I want you to call_ _me V.'_ Valeria had said. And she'd wanted to run away and break things so badly that she'd hurried in the lead as they hiked so they'd not see her face.

"You don't need me," Valeria whispered into the night. "You've got him now."

' _I thought I needed him.'_ Mama had said long ago. _'You… a relationship is when you want to, Treasure. Not need. You've always got to be able to walk away.'_

Mama had forgotten all her wise words.

He, _Gene_ , wasn't even all that. He wasn't handsome, or even interesting, or funny. He had half his hair and a thick brown beard, and when he talked it sounded like questions. He didn't talk much. He wasn't skinny or fat. He wasn't tall. He wasn't much shorter than Mama. He wasn't _anything_. The wildest thing he did in his free time was go fishing.

He was with Mama in the tent and Valeria swallowed back vomit.

Gene wasn't scary. He _looked_ nice. A nervous-nice. If he were a teacher, he'd be the kind everyone walked over. He was Mama's age, and had a grown son who lived far away. He spoke of his son easily, and it sounded like real love. He said his ex-wife had left long ago. He said it because Valeria asked.

Mama had hushed her and said that was no topic for holidays. _'He didn't treat her wrong,'_ was all Mama said.

Gene's face had gone strange then, though, and _what if he was a liar?_ But Mama's smile had sewn her mouth shut.

Mama was _happy_. Valeria wasn't allowed to ruin it.

This Gene guy… He made Mama smile. _A house. A job_. All those things Valeria couldn't get Mama. _He_ had gotten them for her.

And Mama was in his tent.

It was like someone kept kicking Valeria's stomach, again and again. _She wouldn't go to Mauville!_ Ann wasn't there. There was nothing there.

Valeria slipped out of her sleeping bag and into her clothes. She rolled the bag and strapped her backpack on, like they'd taught them in outdoors class.

She stepped out of the tent, her hands shaking as she fastened the straps so they'd not flap with the wind.

She hadn't gone to pokemon camp two years ago because she couldn't leave Mama alone for three weeks, not _then_. Now, Mama had Gene. Mama didn't need her anymore.

With her torchlight in her pocket, the night was pitch dark.

It didn't matter. This was _their_ forest. Hers and Ann's. Ann's house was just straight ahead. Valeria lived there half the time anyway _._ She had warm clothes and knew to stay away from pokemon. Tomorrow's sandwiches were already packed in her bag and there were streams everywhere.

She'd run away with less before.

' _If you try to take my things again, I'll go so far you'll never find me.'_ Chester had believed her. He'd never put a lock on her closet after that one time. The memory was powerful enough to help in the worst times. Valeria could take care of herself.

She threw one last glance at the bigger tent.

Mama had dared to say it'd be their weekend, and special.

Valeria had _passed_ her Aptitude Certificate. Mama hadn't dared promise her that she'd make it like Max and Robin so easily promised Ann. _But, catch, Valeria had!_ She'd studied until her eyes bled, catching up on maths and history, with Ann helping out and trying not to say 'it's easy' or 'come on, everyone knows that' more than twenty times an evening. Mama had made her fill in maps of Hoenn, Kanto and just about every place in the world again and again. It was too late to change her marks in pokemon studies and the survival exams, but she'd read _every_ page of the field guide Mr. C had given her. Science and reading had bumped her up from _scraped-by_ to _honorable pass_ and she'd finally heard 'you're smart' without a ' _but_ ' afterwards from Mr. C.

She'd done _everything_ like she was supposed to. She wouldn't be going to Mauville, not _ever_.

Valeria silently slid down the hill and disappeared behind the dark trees.

 _Mama couldn't take Ann away._

 **A -** Oo*oOo*oO

Five? No way she'd use up all those supplies in just _five_ days. Her maths had to be wrong somewhere.

Anabel tried to cover her work while not looking like she did when Dad's shadow swallowed her whole. _He was already done putting away all the water-skiing stuff?_

"Right you are to hide it. I'll put you up for adoption if it isn't perfect."

Anabel huffed and lifted her arms to let him check her homework. She squealed and tried to scramble backwards. _Aah, Dad was still soaking wet!_ Seated in the grass as she had been, she stood no chance.

"You'll ruin my maths book, go away!"

"Your second plus became a minus in the third line," Dad said, not listening at all as he threw her over his shoulder on top of a fresh shirt that might have stayed dry if he'd bothered to put a towel around his hair after he'd come out of the lake.

Water-skiing was about staying on the skis, but try telling him that. Paige was no help at all, but that was why she was dad's best friend.

Anabel twisted on herself and ended up seated on his shoulder –not comfortable, but dignified, and the view of the lake was good-. Dad had to dig his feet in the ground to keep his balance. _Good_. She was _not_ tiny anymore.

Anabel stiffened, the air had gone hard and sharp, _fear_. It was so rare, to feel it in _adults._ Except in Grandma when Anabel climbed trees, but that didn't count and it had stopped now that Anabel was big.

"I'm not going to fall," she assured him, her eyes scanning the lake. It was bright green from the algae growing at the bottom and mirrored every cloud. Had Dad spotted somebody drowning? Paige and Paige's dad were tying up the boat in its usual spot, and nothing looked wrong.

"V didn't call you?"

"She doesn't have a vidphone, Dad. And she's camping, remember?" It had to be awesome and V was lucky: it hadn't rained a drop since Thursday's storm.

"Nalani says she went exploring on her own."

"So what? I do that all the time around the house."

Dad seemed to agree as he put her down, but now Anabel was paying attention, and the air around him was still full of little spikes.

 _Weird_. Anabel grabbed her textbook and notebook off the grass went to get her bike from the backpack.

V's birthday was in four days. They'd decided to make it special by getting their starters then. With all their parents working now, it wouldn't be too hard to keep it a secret.

Anabel held her breath. She'd never had such an important secret.

But she _had to_. Chasing after surskit had been fun in a play-pretend way, but, compared to real trainers, it had been pathetic. If V hadn't shrugged it off, Anabel would have died of embarrassment.

Later in the afternoon, Anabel tugged hard at the weeds in the garden, marveling at how fast they kept growing. She hissed when the air became cutting glass _again_.

 _Aha!_ Mom and Dad had _definitely_ been sharing a glance. "Why are you both so scared? Why isn't it going away!"

So Mom sat her down and told her that Jennys were looking for V. That V had gone off on her own in the middle of the night and wasn't back.

That's when the seconds began dragging by like a whole year. _Where had V gone? Why did it have to be a secret? Why was it taking so long?_ Anabel hoped so hard that V had run into Volbeat and wasn't completely alone.

The rice made wings in her plate as Anabel pushed her fork around. She added a small hat, a smile splitting her lips. Murkrow were smart. It would see that V was awesome, and it would lead her straight here, and then it-

Anabel's hand jerked, and the rice-murkrow became a _nothing_.

There were no murkrow in Verdanturf forest. V had gotten mostly Cs in survival class, and it was already so dark outside, and she wasn't back. V had no pokemon, no vidphone-

"Bells, please eat. Trainers half as smart as Valeria make it through the wilds just fine. She'll turn up."

Anabel was 'Ann' most of the time now, except when Dad wanted to remind her that she was still his baby girl. She almost burst into tears.

 _Why, V? Why!_

"Nalani needs help, Max," Mom said in soft tones. "The kid's being supportive beyond her years, but she must have been terrified when she saw Gene."

"Who?" Anabel was going to throw up.

A shrill ring - Doorbell!- pierced through the air.

Anabel bolted to her feet. She gasped, stopped short by Dad's grip on her arm.

Mom opened the door. She froze, hiding the view, then moved aside with a strangled laugh. "We were just talking about you."

Valeria stumbled forward. "Was looking for you," she rasped. Ghosts, she was dirty. Anabel didn't care.

She had her best friend pinned against the threshold wall before V could add anything. V sagged against her, her wiry arms clutching her so hard that Anabel almost lost her balance. V smelt of resin, sweat and mud but she was _back_!

Anabel laughed, giddy with relief. "You need a bath. Don't _ever_ do that again!"

"Ghosts, who cares!" Dad said. "We'll wash everything later. Thank Jirachi. Sit down, Valeria, you gave us the scare of our lives."

Anabel couldn't help but nod along as she helped V to the table. V had the weirdest face, all locked in and not meeting their gazes.

"We need to see if she is hurt, Max. And get sugar in her system. Call a doctor, notify the Jennys. Nalani first."

Mom helped V take a short shower, and the doctor came and checked she hadn't gotten weird rashes and stuff, but what scared Ann was that V still wasn't talking. The short answers to Doctor August didn't count.

"I want to sleep here," V said, wiping apple juice off her lips and pushing the chair closer to Anabel.

"Your mother will be here any minute now. You'll soon be comfortably tucked in bed."

"No."

Anabel whimpered in pain. V was holding onto her arm way too tight.

Her parents shared a long look. "You don't feel safe with Nalani?" Mom asked.

V let her head fall on the table. Anabel winced at the noise it made. Even worse was the sticky, burning fog of _wrong_ that now clung to her tight.

"I _do_ feel safe. It's not that," V finally answered, burying her head in her arms.

"Who's Gene?" Mom and Dad had been talking about him. It had to be important.

V's head snapped back up. "You knew?"

Anabel sucked in a breath. V was going to hate them _forever_.

"No," Mom replied. "Your mom told us over the phone today."

Anabel was so glad when relief wiped the harshness off V's face.

The door opened.

Nalani strode in, not even taking off her coat. There was no gray in her long hair anymore, just a shiny red-tinged black, but with her had come a gust of wind hot and cutting, worse than anything Anabel had ever felt. She swallowed, feeling increasingly sick.

"How could you do that to me, Vali? What were you thinking?"

V bolted to her feet. She stared at her mom with an expression of such deep betrayal that Anabel couldn't just watch.

"She's sleeping here tonight." Anabel blurted, struggling to hold Nalani's gaze with the silent storm of feelings slashing all around. "You should wait until she's better."

"Excuse me?" Nalani snapped.

Anabel just wanted to scream to get them to stop.

"I want to sleep here." V took a sharp breath. Something hard and frightening entered her eyes and Anabel had to take a step back. "You can go sleep with _Gene_." Not even June had ever burned up like that. "You don't have nightmares with _him_. You didn't make yourself all pretty for _my_ sake. You didn't _lie_ for _me_." V's wasn't shouting, but this was so much worse, every word _meant_ , nailed with a hammer. "You don't owe _me_ a house and a job."

The silence was fire and mud, and shards of glass, trying to get down her throat. Anabel didn't dare breathe, struggling to stand by V instead of running away. _Wrong wrong wrong._ The feelings were too strong, too black.

"I'll come get her tomorrow after school," Nalani finally said, all color sucked from her face.

She ran out of the door behind her, leaving Anabel staring and scared. Dad shared a quick look with Mom and went running after Nalani.

"Your mother still has night terrors?" Mom said, eyes tight with worry. She shut her eyes briefly when V sullenly nodded. "We… we've been acting as if everything would solve itself. I… I'm so _sorry_. You… still hungry?" she added with a strained smile.

The searing mud was so thick Anabel could barely breathe. She had to get away from those feelings.

V stared at the ground but she didn't start to cry. "I want to go sleep." Her voice turned pleading, "please."

"Of course," Mom said. "Hurry upstairs. You can brush your teeth tomorrow morning."

Anabel waited for V to be safely in the bedroom before locking herself in the toilet and letting the tears fall.

She forced her breathing steady, her hands balled into painful fists. _V, she could have… she'd… V's mom…-_ Anabel took a shaky breath. She was alright: V was back. V was the upset one. She couldn't go back in the bedroom looking like she'd just cried.

Jirachi was her friend tonight, because V was so tired she barely managed a 'goodnight'.

"Did you see pokemon?" Anabel later whispered in the dark. It wouldn't be dawn for a while still, but the air had sharpened so V was awake. _And terrified._

"A zigzagoon got close and followed me for a bit, but it didn't attack." V's giggle was hollow. "I got lucky."

And Anabel had thought the worry might just kill her. "Why did you do that?"

"I've been taking care of her. I'm just so bad at it."

Anabel propped herself on her pillow. She didn't need to see V's face to hear the hurt behind her words. "She's your mom. She should be taking care of you."

"It's different for me. I told you."

Anabel rolled down to be next to V. There had to be a way to fix this.

V began to shake near her and Anabel pulled her into a tight hug, but the air remained thick with invisible glass spikes and that suffocating mud, the guilt, that Anabel wanted to tear V out of but didn't know how.

"She looked so happy," V whispered after a while. "I never made her that happy. I remind her of everything bad," she breathed. "I wanted to put contact lenses so I wouldn't look… but she wouldn't let me."

"That's stupid," Anabel blurted. "You… your eyes are pretty!" She hated that she couldn't find the right words. She'd been jealous of V, her mom had so much time for her, but now…

"She wants us to move to Mauville." _What?_ "Just after my birthday."

"But you can't do that!" _Best friends didn't just leave!_ "You… Stay here! We can give you a room, even two! You can't change schools in _May_."

"I can't leave Mama. I need to make sure Gene's not bad."

"But… We had plans!" This couldn't be happening.

"Sometimes…" V's voice was so low Anabel thought she was imagining it. She breathed in, struggling to stop her own feelings from making her deaf and blind to V's. "We could run away, Ann."

She made it sound so easy. "We can't. Mom and Dad were so scared. It… it was horrible. I thought you were dead! The Jennys would find us… it wouldn't work."

Tears stung Anabel's eyes as V slumped in her arms. She was just guilt now, sickly-warm, suffocating, thick mud.

"You're right, Ann. I need to be good."

* * *

 **Next chapter: "Time to Go", will be posted on Friday.**


	8. Time to Go

**CHAPTER 8A: Time to Go**

* * *

 **April 18th 340 – Saturday**

"Do your parents tell you how they feel about things?"

V had gone all serious in the small screen.

Belly down on her bed, Anabel clutched her vidphone harder. "Um, yes? Sometimes. Not always..." Didn't all parents? "Why?"

"Mama says she can be both honest and not tell me her feelings. That it's about privacy and that privacy's important." V didn't look like she agreed. "She's started therapy again. She doesn't talk to me, except if it's about me. She says a mother has no place burdening her daughter with grownup things. It's like she doesn't trust me anymore."

Oh. "That's… you… you think the doctor's not right?"

V just shrugged. "I've been getting Gene so mad." Her eyes were scary. "It's easy to act nice when you're happy. I want to see what he's like for real. It's hard, though. I think he's a bit scared of me. Mama pretends she doesn't like it. I can tell it's pretend because she doesn't punish me for real. She keeps getting me novels from the library." V suddenly smiled. "There's this brilliant series, you've got to read it! It's-'

Anabel rolled off her undone bed, her knuckles white on the vidphone. She pulled the window open, and sat heavily on the sill. The fresh air was nice. Her chest wouldn't loosen.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything is wrong, V! Listen to yourself!"

Anabel had to get V out of that house. That's what best friends did.

"I'm _trying_ to be good. Gene -"

"V, do you want to journey with me?"

V's silver eyes widened. "Yes. I do. Seriously. But -"

"Then we'll go," Anabel decided. "We… we need to plan this."

"Won't your parents -"

"Grandma will make them understand."

V smiled, that thin smile that crept up her face, elbowing its way through worries and bad stuff, until it was bright and special and so full of warmth.

Anabel missed her so much.

After the call, Anabel made her bed and set her lips tight as she gazed upon the hug-weathered flower half-tucked under the bedcovers. She was almost _ten-and-a-half_ now. The time for plush-toys was over. She had a Journey to do.

Uncle Merle's money for her tenth birthday had seemed like so much, but Anabel had filled out the budgeting sheet like Mr. C had taught them, and it wasn't enough for a Journey for two. Not close.

Uncle hadn't even _done_ a proper Journey. He'd given up before even getting his first badge, because of mud and rain, and forgetting that putting your tent where the ground made a hollow was a very bad idea during a storm.

Grandma was the only one who'd understand.

Anabel spent an extra twenty minutes, so twenty-two, in front of the mirror, until her ungrateful lilac hair was tamed into a nice even ponytail. Grandma liked it when she was neat.

"I'm going!" Anabel said, quickly kissing Mom who was getting ready to go biking with Gita. "I'll be back after dinner."

"Have fun," Dad said, lifting his eyes from his computer, "don't let her Grandma bully you."

Anabel smothered a grin when Mom smacked Dad's shoulder and he made an outraged and way too loud _yeouch_.

"Only I get to crack on Mom," Mom warned. She turned to Anabel and smiled lovingly. "Don't let Grandma bully you, Bells."

Dad's huge eyeroll destroyed Anabel's attempt to make a dignified exit.

"And be careful on the road," Mom called after her.

Anabel's laughter dried up, but her heart kept hammering as she rode to the house she'd grown up in. It always seemed so big and neat now that the three of them had moved out.

Grandma opened. Anabel's face fell when she recognized that small tight smile, the one that said ' _I love you, but why can't you get anything right?'_

"Oh, Bells, take your tights off. I'll wash the mud off. Let me get your pajama pants, don't forget your slippers."

Anabel swallowed. The back of her tights was sloshed with mud. She'd put a skirt on purpose and everything, but somehow she always got things wrong. She didn't dare remind Grandma that it was _Ann_ now.

"So, what do you want?" Grandma said, not a spot on her and all her hair perfect as always.

"To see you," Anabel said, indignation creeping into her tone.

Grandma snorted. "Grandkids go see their grandmas because they're all fun and cookies. I couldn't spoil you, not when your parents didn't know the first thing about raising a child. The last time you came, you were tired of Max and Robin fighting over decorations."

"And we had a great time making awesome pillowcases together. You've been saying for _years_ that you couldn't wait for us to move out." Grandma was weird like that. She was one big grumbling machine, but then she was always there to do everything they needed. "I wanted you to give you some time to miss me."

Grandma had turned Mom and Dad's old bedroom into a proper sewing room. It was the best sewing room ever, and Anabel needed sewing done.

"Grandma, I have a secret," she said heavily.

"A boy involved?"

"No. A girl," she mumbled, unable to lie under Grandma's piercing gaze.

"And that's what happens when a father keeps his hair too long…" She lost the stern look and smiled. "What are you and your friend up to?"

Anabel preferred to just drag Grandma to the sewing room. "I want to journey, but I haven't told Mom and Dad yet. I… I need more money. Uncle's is not enough." She took out her sheets out of her bag. "I did the sums and everything… We could sew some of the stuff. Sleeping bags… anything."

"What does Valeria already have?" Grandma _always_ knew.

Anabel took out her list. V had a bicycle, some clothes, her License –and why hadn't V told her straight away that she'd not gone to camp? She was so silly sometimes.- and that was it. The pokemart was full of second-hand camping gear that ran totally cheap, but there was also all the pokestuff, from balls to antidotes, food, and subscription fees to campsite facilities.

"There's stuff I want to make." V couldn't get embarrassed for what Anabel hadn't paid for. They would head off with matching raincoats, fun sleeping bags, and other things that could be homemade and _special_.

"So you've bought gear, hid it in your new second-hand backpack under your bed, but are stuck home unless I pitch in," Grandma summed up. She had a weird look in her eyes.

She _couldn't_ get angry. Anabel was running out of plans. "Mom and Dad don't understand. You're my only chance!"

"That backpack you bought ventilated? You'll die from the heat otherwise."

"It is. I looked up the good models. It's good!"

A smile broke Grandma's lips and Anabel almost fainted from relief. "I will help you, if you promise me one thing."

Anabel nodded. _Anything._

"You will tell your parents. You will explain _before_ they ask me to. Then I will handle the rest."

It was like a thousand tiny ekans squeezing Anabel's muscles, but she nodded again. "I promise."

Grandma's smile broadened. Her smiles were always a little scary, _scheming_ , Mom called them. "A friend's doing a garage sale today. Want to go see what you can get there first? We'll have all the time to plot."

It was when she followed Grandma to her room that she noticed a suitcase.

"You're taking a holiday?"

"Ha, I wish. There's an architects' conference in Lilycove. If I manage to steal a good idea, I may yet become famous."

"You could marry a famous architect if you can't become one," Anabel said with an innocent smile.

She'd been told a thousand stories about how Grandpa had died. He'd been a gardener, the boss of his small company, and he'd been crushed by a huge evil tree, or maybe it was a tornado that had taken him away. Grandma liked telling stories to make it sound crazy, so Anabel didn't care too much about the truth, and treasured her few memories of the kind man with the booming laughter and the beard that had tickled every time he had picked her up.

"Please don't inherit my daughter's sense of humor."

Anabel swallowed. Mom joked about Grandma dating and marrying again and didn't care when Grandma put on her serious face, but Anabel could never tell when Grandma _really_ meant it.

Grandma was rubbing her cheeks and frowning at the closest mirror. "Do I look like I need a holiday?" she mused. "I thought that new cream worked wonders." Her eyes focused back on Anabel. "Did I tell you I used to dress Marowak up?"

Anabel nodded. She was glad she'd asked Grandma to tell her trainer stories again. Grandma told them proudly and made them long, nothing like Dad's thirty-second talks of _I had to_.

"Back in my parents' day, kids had to journey by law." Something in Grandma had gone stern. Anabel stiffened, eyes wide and attentive. "Short of a disability, no excuse was tolerated. They had you do a six months prep-camp if that's what you needed to be ready, but you went."

"They _made_ you?"

"That's what kept the peace so long, child. Before the War, too many people never left their big cities, never learned to respect life. They didn't see what they were destroying." An almost-smile softened Grandma's lips. "Marowak hated people. Not kids, kids she tolerated, but when I brought her home that first winter… Kids follow rules, that's why pokemon trust you enough to let you catch them. Why Licenses go to you and not adults. Pokemon give you adventure and so much more, and you make them strong. It works. It binds us and protects this world." Grandma smiled tightly. "I love your mother so much, Bells, and I have forgiven her for not journeying, but it was a very selfish thing to do."

She reached out and caressed Anabel's hair, her fingers soft and warm. The way she stared at her, proud, made Anabel feel special.

Anabel couldn't not journey. Not now that she understood.

In a small box under her bed, Grandma had a thousand printed pictures of Marowak, Blaziken and all the people and pokemon she'd met and traveled with. Dates, notes, jokes even, were written all over those pictures, in neat curly letters that looked so different from Grandma's spiky writing. They looked more like Ann's writing.

What Marowak and Grandma had had, that's what Anabel wanted. For her and V.

 **May 1st 340 – Friday**

"Daddy," she said, taking advantage of breakfast and his good-humored half-awake state, "are trainers really so bad?"

Dad snorted. "You know what the alpha trainer's like? The big man everyone looks up to?"

Anabel shook her head, wide-eyed.

"A battle-obsessed mankey that judges people's worth from the pokemon and number of badges they own," Dad answered between cereal spoonfuls. "I was raised to think a kid became a man after walking two regions and getting at least a rank seven badge. The bigger mankey I became, the prouder my folks were. I was popular. My very own loyal troop of mankey. _Blah_." He grinned. "That's why I followed your mother all the way to Verdanturf. Had to get away."

Anabel frowned. They'd told her that Dad's family hated Mom and they'd had to run away. It was very romantic and Grandma was totally worth four mean grandparents (Mel had told her all about mean grandparents), but it had been _a lie?_

"Your family hated Mom because you didn't go train together?" That couldn't be right. They'd been way too old for that when they'd met.

"She kept me studying, made me smart," Dad said with a big smile and a noisy kiss at Mom. She groaned and wiped the milk off her cheek. Mom wasn't much for mornings either. "Training is an illusion. Playing battle, and for what? Trainers rush from badge to badge, their noses so stuck in their pokedexes they see nothing of the cities they visit, competition bringing the worst out of so many them… How many actually bother to get to know their pokemon? It's a terrible waste of time."

"But… but Uncle regrets it, to have given up so quickly. Grandma said he convinced you not to go, Mom, because he was embarrassed."

Mom scoffed. "Your grandma makes it sound like _such_ a tragedy, but Merle doesn't regret a thing. He only gave it a try because Mom insisted. He was a comfort-loving kid who tracked down Jennys and Rangers for interviews for fun. He always wanted to study pokemon, not go cross-country to catch a handful of them. As for me, I had better things to do, simple as that. Thank Jirachi, Dad got Mom to let me be."

Grandma's arguments had rung so strong and beautiful but now they stayed stuck in Anabel's throat. She swallowed. She had _promised_ Grandma.

"Are you _really_ glad that I don't want to journey?" Her voice came out squeaky. _Ghosts_.

Dad affectionately squeezed her shoulder. "Ann, what matters most is to be a caring person and not let others pressure you into wrong choices. I am so proud of you for having a mind of your own."

Her gaze dropped to her breakfast. It wasn't a wrong choice. It _wasn't_!

She took a shaky breath. "V said I can go visit her and stay a whole week there."

Both her parents raised their eyebrows. Anabel crossed her arms. "School's just a preview for secondary now! I'll catch up. I have great marks anyway."

People were leaving one after the other to go on their Journeys and many of those who weren't took a big holiday. Those whose parents weren't busy finishing their PhDs…

"She's my _best friend_ and I haven't seen her in ages." Dad had Paige. Mom had Ellery and Gita. They couldn't pretend not to know how it was.

Mom and Dad shared a glance. Mom tilted her head and had a half-smile in a way that could've meant yes, no, or maybe, but then Dad nodded.

"Go pack your suitcase and find the bus times," Dad said. "I'll be calling Nalani to check with her."

Anabel cheered, pushing her chair back to hug him. Her school folder, which said she was fit to get a trainer's license, was already safely in her bag. She'd become the _best_ trainer, her and V both, not battle-obsessed or mankey at all, and they'd be so proud.

Two weeks later, as they hit the road with Torchic and Treecko, Anabel knew that despite the scowl on her father's face and the shock in her mother's eyes, she'd made the right decision.

 _"I'll call every week and text every day, I promise. I love you. I just have to do this."_

 _"We love you too. Be careful,"_ Mom had replied with a sigh. _"Dad will talk to you later."_

Grandma had been quick to remind her she'd said she'd tell Mom and Dad _before_ leaving.

' _You snubbull_ ,' Grandma had texted. _'Mean your promises, Anabel. And don't you dare give up at the first hitch like my son did.'_

It hurt so bad to be called a coward, but Grandma had told her to be brave, so Anabel had called her to say sorry. Grandma had forgiven her and smiled, so it was alright.

It had been magical, the way V had lit up when Anabel and given her the supplies. And then she'd slid on the raincoat Anabel had spent five days making, the very same one Anabel had come in wearing.

" _I didn't like magenta much before,"_ V had said with a small, and yet the biggest, smile Anabel had ever seen. _"Now it's my favorite color."_

* * *

 **Next chapter "Work for Starters" picks up straight where chapter 2 left us. Update on Tuesday.**

Guest1: since I'm stuck with only being able to talk to you like this: thank you so much for the feedback. Obviously, you'd get longer replies/comments from me if you had an account.^^


	9. Work For Starters

**CHAPTER 9A: Work for starters**

 **We're back to where the Chapter 2 left us: Ann and V have decided to get a job in Lavaridge and save money to buy a pokemon.**

* * *

 **May 20th 340 – Wednesday**

Anabel was exhausted. They'd taken the bus -and felt even more like losers for it- but even then, it had been almost dark when they'd reached Lavaridge, yesterday. They'd collapsed at the campsite - The Chimney, it was called-, barely taking the time to set up their tent. The city hall opened at eight in the morning, so they'd made sure to be there by half past, and asked a nice sleepy-looking man for a list of places where there might be jobs.

The list was _long_. It should have been easy to find something, _anything,_ but 'No, sorry' were everyone's favorite words around here.

"Couldn't you get a dress?" Anabel's voice came out more snappy than intended. "You know, _colors_?"

If they'd looked more like June, all sleek-shiny hair and nice clothes, those performers would totally have hired them to advertise their show around town.

V crossed her arms over her I-couldn't-care-less dull-gray clothes. They fit better than what V had worn during the first months–if only because the magenta raincoat forced V's shirt into a vaguely human shape-, but even Anabel, who stuck to plain colorful shirts and sturdy trousers, felt almost fashionable standing next to her.

" _You_ wear a dress."

Anable huffed and kept her eyes down as they briskly walked through the streets. Any trainer they crossed would take one look at them and _know_. Without starters, they were _nothing_.

"We could ask all the restaurants and shops in the outer town," V said. "There's bound to be things to do."

Anabel didn't want to give up, she totally didn't, but then that beautiful woman looked at them up and down, and gave them a pitying smile and a mumbled 'sorry, we've got more people than we need already,' and Anabel had to clamp her mouth shut not to scream.

She almost wished the ghost was still there. At least… at least like V said they'd _know_.

 _Torchic and Treecko…_ Failure dug deep roots in her insides.

They ended up slumping down on a bench facing one of the streams going through the city, desperate to catch a breath. The hot springs were awesome, clear like glass and bubbling steam, but it mattered little if there were no jobs for them in the pretty parts of town. As soon as they moved away from the main streets, everything became dark rock and smelled like ash.

Except for V, who smelled like mud and sweat and _eww_. They'd taken a shower at the campsite, how -? Anabel sniffed her own shirt and almost fainted right there. She'd never be in too much of a hurry to change into fresh clothes _ever_ again.

 _Wait…_ People paid to bathe in the misty water inches from her feet.

"Why are you taking your shoes off?"

"We smell like muk, V."

"Ugh," V agreed after a pause. "Why your shoes, though?"

Anabel dived in, clothes and all.

" _Anabel_!"

V's protests bubbled underwater when Anabel jumped out to drag her in the stream.

Laughing and spluttering, the girls pushed themselves out when a stern old woman called them out. There were old people chatting, or just looking, on benches in every street, just like in Verdanturf.

"Bet I can change faster than you," Anabel challenged, pulling a towel out of her backpack.

V dropped her own towel as soon as she had a shirt and underwear on, leaving her two free hands. _Cheater_.

"We can't give up." A little more fresh-smelling and refreshed, Anabel didn't feel so down anymore. They'd get a pokemon. They'd train it. They'd get their starters back. "There's a washing machine at the campsite."

Grandma had agreed to pay, but if Anabel ruined her clothes, Grandma would drag her home and ground her forever.

Oo*oOo*oO

The two girls walked close to the dark looming fences, wishing they could become invisible. This… this wasn't the kind of streets Mom and Dad would approve of Anabel walking in. Everything had gone narrow and dark and the rocky ground was so slanted they couldn't even ride their bikes.

There were no shops, just small square two-story houses hidden behind tall fences that hadn't had the soot scrubbed off them in forever. The air was thick and the walls thin. Kids voices and adults', shouts and televisions, grabbed the girls' attention from all sides. Two hard-faced old ladies on a sooty bench frowned at them without a word.

She and V weren't supposed to be here.

Anabel's breaths were shallow. It wasn't cold, but the shadows crept all around, ready to ambush them. Her eyes nervously darted from side to side. What if the ghost _wasn't_ gone? _What if -_

"Here it is," V whispered, hiding inside her long tangled curls. The water had made them explode in fizz.

The ugly wood-and-wire fence lining the big old house looked like a fire had eaten halfway through it. The pokedex map said it was a breeding farm, but it was swallowed in shadows and didn't even have a sign. What kind of breeder would even live here?

Anabel strained her ears for pokemon sounds. She could only hear faint rumbling.

"The pokedex doesn't make mistakes," she said, squaring her shoulders. But her shoulders wouldn't stay square. _This was place was just so…_ "What if they find out -"

"They _won't."_ V took a sharp breath and pushed herself on tiptoes, trying to peek through the fence. _"_ Just because it looks poor doesn't mean it's not good enough. We've tried everything else!"

"Good enough for what?"

Anabel spun round. The fence had opened right behind them and she found herself facing an adult with spiky red hair.

"I'm Mr. Cinders. Farm's mine."

How much had he heard? But his voice was kind and his eyes not mean as he leaned against the sooty fence, arms loosely crossed.

He was skinny and short for an adult. He was tanned and clean shaven, and looked Dad's age, maybe thirty. The sleeves of his black jeans button-up shirt were rolled up to his elbows, and his thick trousers were dirtied by grass and dirt, which did make sense in a farm. Nothing scary. Nothing _different_ even.

"We…we're… you've got work?" Anabel stammered.

His lips twitched; was he making fun? Anabel braced herself for another 'no, sorry.'

Instead, the man straightened and turned around.

"Get in," _what_? "The street's no place to talk business."

"Chill, I won't be locking you in," he said, without even looking back at them.

Anabel blushed. She and V had both been standing there, frozen. She stepped forwards, taking shallow breaths.

They gingerly stepped through the fence and walked the short distance to a crummy-looking front door - _open window_ , that's what had given them away! Window with _bars_.-

Ghosts, what kind of farm -

Anabel's lips parted in surprise when she walked inside.

It was _pretty,_ and welcoming, with no soot at all. A long wooden reception desk split the room on two. On their side, four comfy chairs for waiting faced each other. All types of pokemon egg paintings colored the walls.

"We want a job, Sir, against pokemon, one each," V said quickly as they settled around the customers' counter. "We're not picky, Sir, just something that's not useless for a Journey and that's worth our work."

The twitches won, the man was smiling. A stranger's smile, one with distance. His green eyes were a little too sharp, and those red spikes of hair would make Grandma call him worse than _immature_ , because Dad's hair wasn't anywhere _near_ that crazy, but it was still a smile and he'd let them in.

"It's your lucky day. I do need farm hands… There's these two eevee kits, females. You work the summer for me, they're yours." _Eevee,_ he'd give them eevee _?_ "You'll be fed, there's a kitchen here, bathroom…" he was gesturing towards a the door on the wall, half-turned towards it. His voice was soft but rough, and he kind of swallowed his words, forcing her to pay attention. "You can sleep in the cellar if you want to save on campsite fees." _Cellar?_ "Say… one month of what I'd pay an experienced employee, on top of the eevee, if you hold yourselves to professional standards."

 _Really?_ It was as if everything bad had melted away.

"We'll need papers, to show the Eevee are ours and …" Anabel trailed off awkwardly and tried to make up for it with a bright smile.

"We should have a contract, Sir," V added. "We have to know you won't change your mind."

Anabel held her breath. Contracts, wages, professional standards _…_ it was like overhearing an adult conversation.

"You'll get papers with the proper license numbers. Those say you bought the eevee. Pokecenters ask for no more. All good?"

Anabel and V shared a look. "Yes, Sir," V said. "We promise we won't steal the eevee before the end, Sir."

Ghosts, V!

"Joke," Anabel spluttered. "She sounds serious, but it's just –"

Mr. Cinders' eyes crinkled. "You steal them, they're yours."

" _What_?"

He barked a laugh. It made him look friendly. "You heard me. I dare you to try."

Anabel found herself chuckling back.

"Lots to learn here. You'd better not be scared of effort. Saturday afternoons and Sundays, you're free. You can take Azu on Sundays. He's more than a match for kids coming for the Gym. Azu!"

Anabel started when a large rabbit-like blue pokemon opened the door behind the desk and hopped up to them. It bowed its ears at them in greeting, tearing a grin from her. On pictures, azumarill looked like they were wearing half an eggshell as pants; it was even funnier in real life.

"Azu's tough and smart. He'll win for you. He'll adapt not to win by _too much_ if that's what you need." Mr. Cinders' eyes glittered like he was trusting them with a big secret. "Bet and battle all you like, but any trouble and you're off my farm."

Anabel frowned. Pretending your pokemon were weaker to get people to bet with you and lose was _cheating_. But _eevee kits_ was killing her protests before they even reached her mouth. "Can you show us the eevee now? And the… the cellar?"

He nodded sharply. He looked pleased. Anabel straightened, more relaxed.

He gestured to the door. "Keep asking questions. It'll save you time later."

They craned their heads as they walked into a corridor. One side was full of windows and they could see a big garden with a shallow pool. _Pokemon!_ Anabel bit back a happy squeal. Was that a _chingling_? She started when she caught a man's glance. He frowned hard at them, but then his mouth broke into a grin.

Mr. Cinders had given him thumbs up.

"That's West."

"He works here too?"

"The boy sure could, if he put his mind to it. His mind's more on girls and fun." West waved cheerfully and Mr. Cinders chuckled. "Look at that, he loves you already: you're his ticket home. It's his job you'll be doing."

"You're alone, Sir," V said, "for a whole farm?"

"Wasn't until nine days back. Maude got sick to the lungs. Tough old wife. Wouldn't hear about resting until she couldn't breathe. She's gotta rest until the air cools. The other one… eloped to Kalos." The respect Mr. Cinders had had in his tone for the old woman had become the worst scorn. "Left a note saying he was sorry for the timing." They had reached a door at the bottom of a staircase. The light filtered in, but it was cooler. "Don't elope," he warned, his gruff voice soft. "Or give me good warning."

He was angry. She could feel it burn. V was busy looking at everything through narrowed eyes, so Anabel nodded promptly for the two of them.

"With you two here, I'll have time to find a solid replacement."

The house was much deeper than the outside suggested. They passed a small kitchen, a stairway down, and three other doors, before Mr. Cinders stopped. The thick wooden door clicked, revealing a huge room with walls so much cleaner than the blackened outside. Inside were cages big enough to fit Anabel's bedroom. The one in front of her had a well. Or a pool. Totally a pool.

Was that a _dratini_ _?_ A _baby_ dratini? It was blue and serpent-like, almost three feet long, with feather-like white ears, exactly like on their schoolbook drawings. But... weren't they really, really rare?

The floor stopped mid-way into the big room and the rest, the whole of the dratini-cage, was rock. The pool was dug in rock and sunlight filtered through the semi-opaque windows.

Anabel's breath caught when she saw a blur of movement in the large cage to her left. _Eevee. So many eevee_. Anabel counted. Six. Small _tiny_ eevee with fur that was all white with only the faintest traces of brown, and a seventh, the mom.

"See the red collars, over there?"

Twin little creatures turned wide brown eyes at Mr. Cinders' outstretched finger and crawled to the edge of the cage, ears twitching. They pressed their pointy noses against the bars. High-pitched yapping noises burst out of their mouths.

"Those little ladies'll be yours."

Anabel smiled helplessly. _So cute!_ "Are they sisters?"

"Raised as such. All that matters, really."

The adult eevee the kits had been snuggling against was magnificent, her white and brown fur long and glossy and her fluffy white-tipped tail held high, as if asking for a belly rub.

Mr. Cinders crouched until he was halfway inside the cage and did just that. "Foxy's remarkable with the young." His voice had gone all soft. "Treats them all like her own."

"Those kits are female," V said."Aren't they worth a lot, Sir?"

 _Aaah, V_ , _don't change his mind!_

"What they're worth matters nothing if the work doesn't get done. Reward's high because it's hard work. Serious work. You're dealing with lives." Anabel flinched at his stern tone. She squared her shoulders, sensing the question in his gaze. The respect she'd yet to earn.

"Five of the six are female; got lucky. You won't ruin me." His new broad smile as he looked at the kits made Anabel breathe easier. "They'll grow bigger and start following you around soon. Now, farm rules."

Anabel winced at the sudden tightness around her forearm. V was holding onto her, hard.

"You don't boast," Mr. Cinders warned. "Not about the rare pokemon here, not about the eevee. It's part of your job. Thieves have ears everywhere."

"We'll stay quiet," Anabel promised, her voice shaking with renewed rage. Thieves, all the way inside town?

 _Torchic…_ She couldn't give up on him. She had to find a way. _Starters were supposed to be for life!_

"So we don't say we have a job, Sir?" V said with a deep frown. "That's okay for strangers, but Mama –"

Mr. Cinders shook his head. "Say you're just helping, discovering the trade... Say you wanted to see many pokemon without having to travel far."

Anabel grinned at the little eevee. She'd have come here first thing, if she'd known.

"Can't sound like you're doing grownup work. That's our secret and you'll be paid your worth." Mr. Cinders smiled. "If your folks need reasons, surely you can find it in you to say breeder's a fine career to look into."

Anabel nodded, her heart racing. That's what she'd tell her parents! Breeding sounded fun.

It wasn't what regular trainers were supposed to do, but that's why Dad would like it.

Her gaze flickered back to the lithe dratini. _You'll be safe. I'll never tell._

One of their eevee was looking straight at her. _Their eevee._

"Get in, girl. Can't be fearful of pokemon if you want to work here."

She _wasn't_ scared! Anabel crawled in the cage until she was sitting next to Mr. Cinders. There were fake bushes and a sand pit, and a path of stone pillars to get on a platform with fun little toys hanging from thick strings. She couldn't wait to see the eevee play. The kit looking at her had frozen in place.

"Gently now, pick her up," Mr. Cinders urged.

 _Don't be scared._ She reached out with her fingers, barely daring to brush the eevee's fur. Her whiskers and pointy ears twitched in the cutest fashion.

"That's set then. That's to be EeveeA, and that'll be EeveeV. They'll be grown enough for pokeballs by mid-July. I'll write July 16th on the buyer's contract. "

July. He'd _said_ the whole summer. But Anabel lifted up her eevee – _her eevee!_ \- and her heartbeat slowed into something comfortable and warm.

She was so little _,_ barely longer than her forearm. Her paws rasped against Anabel's skin until Mr. Cinders helped her grab her properly. _EeveeA_ drove her wet, pointy nose straight into Anabel's arm and gave a satisfied sigh, as if she'd finally found a comfortable pillow. Anabel's last shreds of resistance crumbled.

"Leave them here." _Aw, already?_ "I'll show you the cellar."

The girls went back into the corridor to taken another set of stairs to the cellar. The word 'cellar' turned out to be scarier than the actual place. It was bigger than Anabel had feared, and not so dark with all the lights on. There were stacks of transparent crates along two of the walls, and a double-bed at the other end.

"That's all medicine for pokemon, or supplements like vitamins. The pokecenter's for you young folk. You'd not want to wait days for your pokemon to be healed because breeders hogged all the bedspace."

 _Right_. There were boxes and pills and vials and even thick needles that looked like torture devices. Everything had labels with long words that only made sense to doctors.

"Sir," V said carefully, "why do you have a bed and an old wardrobe in the cellar?"

Anabel stiffened. She just wanted those eevee babies so bad.

"Got them off a friend when I bought the place. I've got better furniture for myself now, but that's no reason to throw away good stuff. You'll get a set of keys whatever place you choose to sleep. I don't lock in employees, even those who need stools to access the pokemix stocks."

Anabel blushed.

"Not even the wisest man can avoid all trouble. Sooner or later, trouble finds you." He handed them the contract and a key, a weird smile on his face. He knew. Somehow, he knew. "Life's about solving problems and bouncing back. _Now_ , show me you deserve those eevee."

* * *

 **Eevee are terribly cliché, but Anabel has an espeon in canon. I just had to^^.**

 **Soooo, dear readers, you're all older than ten. What's your gut feeling about Mr. Cinders?**

 **Next chapter: "Apprentice Breeders" will be up on Saturday.**


	10. Apprentice Breeders

**CHAPTER 10A: Apprentice Breeders**

* * *

It was like pokemon camp mixed in with those movies where people had secret dens. There was _everything_ here.

They'd opened the last corridor doors one by one. One was storage, the second held a bubble-like cage with a big bed-like nest. 'The healing station' Mr. Cinders called it.

"That over there generates healing pulses," he explained. _'That over there'_ was a battery-like machine that took the whole wall and was linked to the bubble by thick cables.

The third door, the last, opened into some kind of big windowed garage full of _eggs_. Small eggs in cozy nests stuffed with grass, colored eggs including a spotted golden one in a pile of logs where two bidoof where soundly sleeping… Anabel's eyes stopped on a _huge_ egg that was all gray and rough-looking sitting in the middle of a pile of rocks.

Would the mom even fit inside here?

The rumbling she'd heard outside was much louder, and Anabel realized now it was the air conditioning for the eggs.

"Why aren't the moms around?" she asked. "What's this?" she said, pointing at a weird looking goldeen-tank with dozens of cables sticking out of it. It was empty. "What species is _that_?"

Mr. Cinders' eyes narrowed. Anabel went very quiet. _What had she done wrong?_

"'Boss' or 'Sir' now, Anabel. Work's no game." A half-grin killed his stern face. "Doesn't mean I don't like you asking."

A blush glowed all the way down Anabel's neck. Dad said 'Sir' was stuffy and respect was in the tone, but she cleared her throat and put on her best smile. "Please, what species is that _,_ Boss?"

"That one?"

She gasped as Mr. Cinders gave the huge egg a kick. It didn't even budge and the man pulled a horrible pretend-face, jumping on one leg as if he'd broken his foot.

Twin giggles burst from the girls' lips.

"Onix," Mr. Cinders said. "The moms lay eggs and leave after a couple of days. I call their trainers back a couple of days before hatching's due. The trick's to keep the eggs at the right temperature." So _that_ was why it was so warm here. "This tank's here is an incubator. Keeps eggs alive and well when there are problems with them." He smiled as they rushed to it to get a closer look. "Last egg room's underground. A cold room for the ice-types. It's on the other side of the park, where you saw West."

"What's in there?" Anabel couldn't wait to go see. Mr. Cinders frowned pointedly. " _Boss_ ," she quickly added.

"Two swinub eggs due in a month. A male sealeo's coming in soon to give'em company."

"How many pokemon and eggs are there in total, Sir?" V was starting to look worried.

"Four laying mothers, fifteen hatchlings and young –that's counting the eevee- and half as many parents. Two couples are getting to know each other, and one did a good job at it," he said, pointing at the two bidoof with a wink. "Azu keeps the peace and we're nine ditto strong. Four are morphed into parents until the hatchlings are old enough to transfer. Keep your eyes open and try to spot them." That sounded fun. "So that's forty pokemon, and close to twenty eggs. It never gets busier than Summer, that's why help so hard to find."

"Look, Ann, there's a garden on the roof," V whispered as peering out of the shed's window.

"With a palisade street-side for protection," Mr. Cinders confirmed. "There's a third, last garden, out back, between the farm and my house. Some pokemon need privacy to breed. Care to guess why, with so many gardens, the eevee are all in a cage?"

His smile was a test. Anabel straightened. She was almost the shortest in her class, which made her even shorter in here, but she'd prove him she was big enough for the job.

"They're scared?" she guessed. "They're too little?"

But that wasn't it. Mr. Cinders kept staring down, his crinkled eyes saying _'what've you got?'_

"It's a nice cage. They feel safer in it?"

Still not it, but it _was_ a nice big comfortable cage.

"They'd fool around and hurt themselves in the garden?"

Anabel shot a look to her silent best friend. _Come on, V, help me out._

"This is a small on-demand farm, so any pokemon I can't accommodate is a client lost." _Right…_ "Think food chain, girls."

Mr. Cinders' words, and the look in his eyes- "You've got pokemon that _eat_ eevee kits?"

She sucked in a breath when the man nodded gravely.

"A gorgeous persian mom's made the roof terrace her turf. She's not sharing with any other predator. She's a curious beast, likes approaching younglings. It's not mean, but the other moms get hostile, understandably. Foxy with six needs her own space. In the park, there's an arbok mom and her fast-growing ekans hatchling, in the fenced area behind the water point. Speedies keep her happy, but smelling eevee kits might be too strong temptation."

Anabel shivered. "Speedies?"

"Like rattata –"

"Wait, we have to feed them _live rattata_?"

Anabel realized she was pulling a face and that she'd interrupted him. She straightened quickly. "Boss?"

"That's not a problem," V quickly said. "I'll do it, Sir."

"Those aren't wild rattata. They're barely pokemon." Mr. Cinders soothed. "Look and taste the same, but the similarities end there. Speedies grow full-sized in a week and don't feel pain. No nerves. We've been breeding that line since long before the War and selecting _against_ brains. If we freed them in the wilds, they'd run until they'd die of exhaustion."

Wow, how stupid were they?

"Ekans snakelets need live prey as soon as they can slither, or their instincts end up stunted." He patted her shoulder. "No worries, speedies are my job."

Anabel nodded slowly. "So there are different gardens to separate pokemon who might be mean to each other."

"You got it. I, and _you_ now, 've got to double-check that the barriers and doors between the gardens and the buildings are shut at _all_ times."

A nasty arbok, eating _her_ eevee _._ Anabel shuddered. "We won't forget."

"Ditto," V exclaimed, pointing at the door.

A flash of dark purple disappeared behind one of the nests before poking its head out, eyes glinting. Anabel waved, grinning. Those could be _any_ pokemon, and they totally didn't mind making babies with any of them.

The ditto crawled closer, as if it looking for something.

"Ditto absorb DNA by touch. They try to morph with people too," Mr. Cinders said with a wry smile, "although the results are… disturbing. Sometimes people come here with rare pokemon, to sell me the DNA data."

"Can't you bring them to a place with every pokemon type and be set for life, Boss?" Uncle Merle had shown her pictures of big events for breeders, Professors, and the like.

Mr. Cinders' lips twitched, and Anabel knew she'd said something wrong. "Give me a fierce growlithe," he told the ditto.

Purple goop morphed into orange fur with black stripes. A bubble head grew to resemble a puppy's. More fur burst out around the neck and back, making a cream collar and a fluffy tail. Within seconds, ditto-growlithe was prancing about on four paws and wagging its tail.

Anabel gasped. It looked so _wrong_.

V giggled.

Ditto-growlithe's face was too squashed, its nose too big, its head tuft-less and the tail… tails weren't supposed to start from the middle of your back.

"Ditto forget like you and me. Practice's the only safeguard against mistakes. Can't expect them to get much more than thirty pokemon right, and that's already a number to be proud of." He crouched to pat creepy-growlithe affectionately. It morphed back into a light purple blob under his hand. "Life and blood of the breeding industry, they are."

A bell tolled outside, causing the girls to look up. The ditto rushed out of the shed towards the sound, sliding on the ground as if it was ice.

"West's about to serve dinner, come meet everyone," Mr. Cinders said. "Farm rule: Azu eats first. Helps show he's in charge. Pokemon who act out answer to him."

Anabel let out a big breath and could taste new confidence as she filled her lungs. _They could do this._ They'd have eevee and the job wouldn't even be bad.

Dinner was food-mixes, fruit, seed and protein bites, _no speedies_. Azu ate first, joined by three… _pidgey_? They had wildly colored feathers, much brighter than the usual cream and brown. One of them, its wings sparkling gold, had a problem with its legs. Anabel laughed as it morphed into a purple blob with friendly eyes before throwing itself on its share of the food.

The other two pidgey stayed pidgey, but Anabel had her doubts now. She laughed as the three bumped into each other, screeching and flapping and making a scene until West clucked his tongue and they quietened.

Some of the moms had also rushed to West.

Natu. Chingling. Mawile.

Anabel stared at the mawile, that deceptively cute yellow thing that had a huge second jaw camouflaged as a weird, long and flat black ponytail at the back of her head. She ate the protein bites with her small mouth, sharing easily with the others and encouraging the two little ones by her side to eat.

 _Snap!_ One of the little mawile's second jaw opened wide, revealing scary-sharp teeth and snapping hard at the chingling mom next to it. The chingling shot it a sharp look and nudged her own baby away, but she kept eating.

"Those little guys'll be gone in a couple weeks. Their teeth are getting sharp enough to brave the world."

"So that's a ditto," Anabel said shrewdly. "Or the mom would leave with her kids." But something was off. Those chingling and natu moms… trainers didn't bother to breed pokemon who weren't special. Even if they were rare, you evolved them first. You taught them the best moves.

A glance at the garden revealed an electabuzz and her elekid baby, hesitating narrow-eyed. West threw them a small bag of food and the mother pounced. As soon as she had it, she ran back with the food into the bushes.

"Those three moms are _all_ ditto," Anabel exclaimed. The natu hooted. It sounded... miffed. "That's why they all feel so safe around each other and West while the others moms are holding back."

"Stay that smart," West called. He was taller and tougher-looking than Mr. Cinders, but he beamed at them as if they all were best friends. "Saturday's game night, if I can-" He looked down abruptly and Anabel caught Mr. Cinders' glare.

"Youngsters don't know the meaning of work anymore…" The breeder dropped his glance on them. "Prove me wrong girls."

She _would_. Anabel spotted the water point behind a cluster of bushes when West went to empty a small bag in the well next to it. "A feebas," he told them. "It's deep enough the other pokemon won't go bother her."

"There's a second food crate in the corridor, for the terrace's pokemon, come," Mr. Cinders said, looking very pleased by their awed expressions.

There was just _so much_ to keep up with.

The fourth ditto-mom was a ponyta with a _tiny_ baby. It was barely walking.

"It's so small," V whispered. "It'll be here a while, won't it?"

"Ponyta must run, unfortunately. I'm transferring her and her mother to a specialized farm with bigger grounds next Wednesday."

Anabel nodded. One of the breeding farms they'd visited during pokemon camp had had huge pools and almost a hundred water-types, the other had been shady and full of plants, giving bug and grass-types all the space they needed to feel at home.

"Sir, could we take pictures?" V said, her fingers crawling for her vidphone.

"No, but you can watch all you want. Memories last if you pay attention."

Anabel wouldn't lose a second of it.

"Mr. Cinders, Sir," V insisted. "Our parents… Just two ditto for pictures, make them look like torchic and treecko, and their first evolutions. It would make our lives so much easier, Sir."

 _Yes._ _Yes!_ Anabel would have crushed V into a hug had Mr. Cinders not been there. _Yes, yes, yes!_ "Marill and azurill too," Anabel said excitedly, "then we can pretend in a month that Azu is ours. Show we're training and evolving!"

Mr. Cinders took a long look at them. Anabel blushed.

"What kind of pokemon did you run into in coming here?"

"Uh, sandshrew, cacnea, numel." _Gengar_.

The man was silent a while. But he didn't look angry.

"On of my ditto can do a red and gold cacnea," he finally said. "Say you brought it here. Say I'm trading you it for two baby eevee. It's fair. Say you want to come here see the eevee every day. Say I agreed to a part-time internship because summer's so busy. We'll fit in a marill later."

"Sir, how come your ditto morph into pokemon with strange colors so much?" V said. "Does it help them make more babies?"

Mr. Cinders chuckled. "They like it. They're not machines. Let them have their fun."

"We'll take good care of them, we will," Anabel promised, her head turning of its own accord to see more of the pokemon.

She'd work her hardest, and she'd learn so much. She'd finally have a proper Journey.

"I think we should sleep here," she whispered to V, made unsure by her best friend's frown.

But V nodded. "It'll save us money. He seems nice. We'll be getting keys anyway."

* * *

 **June 15th 340 – Monday (three weeks later)**

Anabel leaned against the shaded wall on the edge of the bigger garden. The 'park'. Mr. Cinders hadn't joked about there being heaps to learn.

She sometimes felt nine years old and at camp all over again. That year, she'd expected a repeat of the junior camp she'd done at eight: showing she could do what they'd learned in survival class. Instead the teacher had abandoned them in groups of three by the less-traveled roads to see how they'd cope. They'd not told them how closely monitored they were, or that some of the pokemon they'd meet weren't wild, but trained ones there to test them.

Everything had been tests.

The first days had been horrible. She, June, and Mel had fought for the silliest things, and she'd not gotten anything right. It didn't help that Mel was scared of pokemon and June decided to cure her of that by dragging her into a cave full of zubat. They'd reached Oldale Town one day late with fainted 'starters' and only one new pokemon –a beedril of all things- between the three of them. The next week, she'd thought she'd learned the lesson, but then she'd spent all her money wrong and had to call for help when she'd realized her pokemon were going to starve. That Anabel had had such good marks on all the tests had made it all so much worse.

But everyone had failed, mostly, many much worse than her. She'd done well enough to earn her License.

And that's what Anabel told herself when she started feeling homesick and exhausted. At least Mr. Cinders explained and showed them how things had to be done.

She took a deep breath and went to turn on the water tap. After yesterday's storm, the whole garden was a mess. She was glad she hadn't been camping under _that_.

Sweat trickled down her neck, and she wiped her arm across her forehead for the fifth time in is as many minutes. Lavaridge was hot and stifling like Verdanturf never was. They'd be done before sundown today at least, not like the first week.

She winced as she remembered how they'd not closed the barriers right the night right after West had gone home. That greedy aipom had made a mess of the food in the storage room and Mr. Cinders' face had made it clear he'd get very mad if it happened again. At least the arbok was gone now and the kits and Foxy had the terrace all to themselves.

The half-dozen pokemon lounging about perked up as water shot out of the hose. Poliwag started sprinting towards Anabel as fast as his little legs could take him. His poliwrath-mom was no ditto, and shot a fearsome look at Anabel, one that warned 'you better be nice'.

"I'll play with you soon. First I need to clean up around the water point," Anabel promised with a smile. It was hard work, but the pokemon were awesome.

"Azu, zu zu ma azumarill."

Behind Azumarill's pokespeech and his obvious warning tone, Anabel could almost hear real words 'wait until she's done with the mud.'

Pokemon felt much less alien now. She and V had learned to spot which pokemon would try to steal food from the others and which had to be instead cozened into finishing their meals, which ones would try to hide at bedtime and which ones made trouble just for attention. The healing scratch on her wrist was a sharp reminder that when a pokemon looked upset getting close was _not_ a good idea. She was lucky the little meowth hadn't gone for her face. She was lucky _Persian_ had just watched, instead of pouncing on her.

Her eyes darted to Persian, seated on her favorite tree, not missing a second of anyone's movements. Anabel had been so scared the week before, when Persian had tried to go back to the terrace –and the eevee- after having been moved to the park. Anabel had shouted and Azu had come, and blown a massive jet of water at Persian. Persian hadn't stopped, Azu had screamed orders, and suddenly there were _four_ azumarill sending jets of water. Ditto were _the best_. Persian had fainted and the ditto had gone back to being friendly and memorizing everyone's appearance to copy them better later. Now Persian behaved, but Anabel still kept checking.

"Poly, poliwag!" Polywag was right on her heels, and wanted her to _get on with it_ , so she could turn the hose on him.

Anabel grinned. What a pushy baby.

V had just finished changing the lawnmower's bag, so Anabel waved her over. The cleaning and keeping places neat took a lot of time. At least pokemon didn't poop. Everything they ate that their body didn't need was broken down and stored in poke-energy, which they spent battling or just fooling around, and, when they had enough of the right kind of it, allowed them to evolve.

Anabel jerked her head towards poliwag.

"Poliwag, water type," V said, "evolves through battling into poliwhirl, and with a water stone into poliwrath. It then gains fighting as its secondary type. You can also get a politoed from a poliwhirl but I can't remember how."

"Commonly known attacks?" Anabel quizzed. They'd seen a lot of this at school, but there was so much to remember.

V shrugged. "Water gun?"

 _Was she even trying?_ "We have to learn these, V! We won't be able to fight properly if we have no clue what attacks pokemon have. This is part of being a good trainer."

"Tell me again. It'll sink in. After all, if I forget, you can repeat it tomorrow, or the day after," V gave a dramatic sigh, "or the day after that, or –"

Anabel sprayed the hose at her, getting close enough to show she wasn't joking.

"Oi, don't get violent on me! Way to set a bad example."

Anabel pretended to ignore her, but she still quickly looked around. She was proud to see that the pokemon listened to her now. They hadn't called Mr. Cinders for help in four whole days.

She wished she'd had all this experience before getting Torchic. Torchic and Treecko had been so confusing, getting all stubborn and fighting over nothing. But maybe it hadn't been _nothing_.

"Just think," Anabel insisted. "You know these things."

"Do I, Teacher?" V finally grew serious and frowned. "Bubble, Bubble Beam when they get stronger, and some slap attack with those fins."

" _Double Slap_ ," Anabel said. "Body Slam and often _Hypnosis_ , so look out for that one. The more powerful ones can have mud-related ground-type attacks." She checked the pokedex. "Oh, and of course even the babies know how to reduce the efficiency of fire moves through Water Sport."

" _Of course_ ," V replied, totally teasing. "I've got to check on Scyther and Heracross. They should have made an egg by now."

Don't change the subject. "I won't be fighting your battles, V. You need to learn those moves for yourself."

V knew better than to roll her eyes. She walked up closer to Anabel, shooing Polywag off.

"Riolu's gone," she whispered. "I saw grownups get him."

Anabel's face fell. "You didn't get to say goodbye?"

V had favorites and she'd loved the little riolu. Anabel didn't mind so much seeing pokemon go, because there were always new ones, and each were so different.

Dad had said trainers didn't bother to really get to know their pokemon, but Anabel made sure she did. She _knew_ she'd change his mind on trainers. She'd prove to Mom pokemon could be interesting.

" _Grownups,_ Ann. Not a trainer. Riolu was just six weeks old. We could have kept him here."

Anabel stiffened, hearing V's unspoken questions. Why so many grownups? Why did almost every pokemon get transferred?

She didn't want to get paranoid because breeding was _complicated_. And not just because it was weird that a scyther and a heracross would want to make babies. Everything their teachers had taught them was really the most basic of basic. When that handsome sealeo had come, Anabel had thought a ditto would have taken the shape of a pretty she-sealeo, flirted a few hours by the water point, and that's how eggs were done. Instead _four_ ditto had changed. Two had changed into he-sealeo, smaller than the real-sealeo, and they'd began to flirt with one of the ditto she-sealeo while the second she-sealeo just ignored everyone. That had made the real-sealeo angry, and they'd started battling, until the two ditto-he-sealeo had fled. The real-sealeo had looked so smug going up to the she-sealeo they'd all been fighting over.

Did Sealeo even know those were ditto? None of the four had changed into anything else until Sealeo had left. There had been two eggs by the end of the week, so Sealeo must have also noticed the other she-sealeo at some point.

So, no, Anabel didn't pretend to know better than Mr. Cinders, but… There were these weird moments when Anabel knew she should stop, pay attention, _think_ , but she had so much to do, and Mr. Cinders had been so kind and helpful.

But that was part of the problem. He _never_ told them off for lying. He'd helped them with it, a lot. It was way weird, for an adult.

The pokemon and eggs looked healthy and happy, so Anabel worked hard and couldn't wait for the eevee to get bigger. Mr. Cinders had his own house and garden right behind the breeding farm, and Anabel had asked if they could make a playground for the eevee, with cardboard boxes, and anything they could find.

Anabel squared her shoulders and began stuffing broken fallen branches into a trash bag. Mr. Cinders had even let them do _that_ , despite them cluttering his lawn instead of making themselves scarce on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, and leaving him in peace.

There had to be an explanation.

She wiped her hands on her trousers and gingerly walked up to the front desk where Azu had said Mr. Cinders was.

He wasn't alone. Anabel froze, just out of the two men's sight.

"So about the dratini?"

Anabel fidgeted. She'd never talked to customers.

"She's not for you."

"That was before I got screwed over. I need it _now_. You owe me."

Anabel instinctively edged back, straining her ears and holding her breath.

"Not like that." Anabel flinched. Mr. Cinders' voice was a little gruff, but with them he kept it nice. Now he sounded _angry_.

"They need you, Tobias. Bronco'll get in your face but screw him. He won't do jack."

 _Had he seen her?_ The bathroom wasn't far. She hurried in, hoping she was stressing out for nothing.

Alone in the bathroom, she decided she might as well use it.

When she was done, she counted up to thirty before unlocking the door and pushing it open.

She jumped when she saw Mr. Cinders waiting for her.

"Is anyone going to get hurt?" she blurted out, her voice a squeak.

She just wanted the eevee, a normal Journey. She -

Mr. Cinders frowned. "Nobody gets hurt here." He almost sounded offended. "You've been doing good, kid. What's the matter?"

Anabel willed her hammering heart to slow down. Gengar's horrible grin hovered at the edge of her vision but Mr. Cinders looked as kind and nonthreatening as usual.

"I'm sorry, Boss" Anabel whispered, "I... I just…I…"

No way she could say 'I think you're maybe breaking some rules' even if she added a 'Sir' or two in there like V always did.

He crouched to her level and brought a steadying hand to her shoulder. "Have you seen any pokemon get hurt here?" Anabel shook her head. "Have I treated you bad?" She shook her head again, faster, and opened her mouth to speak. "Then talk to me, is some pokemon giving you a hard time? Getting down with some sickness? Are _you_ sick?"

"No, Boss," Anabel hurriedly said, now desperate to get back to the garden and V.

"So what did you come to ask?"

Were his eyes tighter? "What species is polywag's father?" Anabel blurted, because she had to say _something_. "V and I are trying to learn all the moves and stuff so we can battle better later and –"

"Corsola," Mr. Cinders gently cut in, his hand still on her shoulder. "Polywag's poke-energy is less… _rigidly_ water, more attuned to rock. He's prime to learn Endure, and, luck allowing, Rock Blast. Genetics's all about statistics, gives you both good and bad surprises." He smiled and Anabel felt bad for being suspicious. "That's half the fun."

His smile turned into a wry grin. "Now, can I use the toilet?"

Anabel flushed and bolted out of his way, rushing back to the park.

"You seriously went to ask Mr. Cinders about the riolu?" V whispered.

Scyther and Heracross were battling, but mostly missing each other and running around a lot while the babies all watched wide-eyed. Mr. Cinders had said that meant they liked each other.

"I… I didn't dare in the end. A man came for Dratini… It was weird, V."

Azu hopped up to them and Anabel reached out to pet him. She sighed when Azu bared his teeth and made a big show of sulking.

"I'm not battling," she sternly said. "Just because everyone does it doesn't mean I have to. Don't pretend you didn't have fun with us at the waterpark."

There was so much to do on Sundays: places to visit, fun stuff happening like waterfall light-shows or marching bands in the streets… She'd battle with the eevee, when they'd be big.

Azu shrugged as if to say _'oh well, I tried'_ and Anabel had to laugh.

"Mr. Cinders wrote a buyers' contract for us," V muttered, staring at her feet. "He can do it for anyone. It's… Do we care, though?"

 _How could she not?_

"He's right, he's not hurting anybody," she said, feeling a bit more convinced from saying the words. _Except -_

"Azu?" Small black eyes stared up at them. Eyes that belonged to somebody who heard and could repeat every. single. word.

Anabel let out a shaky breath. Mom and Dad were _proud_ of her for using her Journey to do an internship like this.

"We need to check if there's enough pokemix left to feed everyone until Thursday," she said hoarsely.

* * *

 **Chapter 11 "Training from Scratch" will be up on Thursday.**


	11. Training From Scratch

**CHAPTER 11: Training from Scratch**

 **V - June 20** **th** **341- Saturday**

Ann kicked Valeria awake. By accident. She did say sorry. Then, though, she rolled out of double bed, turned on the lights, skipped back to the bed, and pulled off both sheets and covers.

"We should wash those, no? It's been two weeks."

It would have been more of a question if Ann had asked _before_ stripping the bed.

It also was _super_ early. Valeria groaned and grabbed her pillow before Ann could take it too.

"Well, come on," Ann exclaimed with a blinding grin. "The eevee are waiting for us!"

 _Probably sleeping, actually._ Valeria bit her tongue, warmth replacing her grumpiness. She couldn't say it. She'd break Ann's heart.

Ann was _bouncing_.

Soft laughter built in Valeria's chest. She pushed herself upright and rubbed her eyes awake.

"You battle Tangela. I'll put those in the wash," Ann said, dashing for the kitchen/laundry in her pajamas.

Valeria reached for her brush with a groan. 'Battling Tangela' did sound better than 'brush your hair'. She winced when she pulled on the first locks. _Battling_ alright.

"Come on, come on, _come on_!"

"Ann, your shirt's not on right."

Ann could bounce _and_ flip her shirt. Valeria grinned.

For one month, they'd visited the eevee in their cages and then later watched them take ownership of the terrace. Their clumsy steps had become steady, their fear of everything not within three feet of Foxy had led way to playful curiosity, and the soft white fur around their necks had grown into a lush collar. Babies no more.

As of today, she and Ann were allowed to play with the eevee, away from Foxy, in Mr. Cinders' garden.

"Eeveea, Eeveevee, first let's see how fast you can run." Ann wasn't even out of the house, and she was already shouting orders, her vidphone set on stopwatch. "Go to that tree there and back. Give it your best shot!"

The eevee broke into a breakneck run when they realized that Ann meant they had to go _now_.

A hundred and thirty-four seconds later, Eeveea all but knocked Ann over, jumping around and tugging at her clothes with her front paws. The pokemon's rasped 'Veh's had a distinct ring of pride in them.

A whole twenty yards behind, Eeveevee raised puffs of dust. She bounced up to Valeria, her huge brown eyes glittering with a perpetual awe that her sharper sister couldn't mimic.

She wagged her fluffy tail wildly upon hearing Valeria's laugh.

Valeria crouched and pressed her nose against her kit's. "The whole point is to run _fast_."

"Eev eevee." That didn't sound like 'sorry'. More like 'I'm running for you already, be grateful'.

Valeria shoved her face in Eeveevee's fur, pretending to bite her, and earning herself a gooey mess of tongue licks, all nicely spread over her face and neck by the kit's flailing paws.

"I forgot to make them warm up!"

Ann's horrified face was just too funny. "Ann, they made an unbelievable racket when we went to get them. Ninetales was about to turn them to ash. They were born warmed up. What's next?"

After an hour of leaps, sprint runs, go fetch, and 'swipe the dangling yoyo'. Ann frowned at the panting eevee.

"How can we see if they already know any moves?"

 _Huh_. "Eeveevee, tackle your sister."

"Ee?"

"Would you tackle _me_ , V?" Ann challenged, hands on her hips.

"If it helped me evolve and get dragon wings, you'd be on the ground already. Pokemon put up with us trainers because battling makes them stronger every time."

Ann's eyes narrowed to slits. "You'd test that _theory_ on _our baby eevee_?"

Valeria nodded. It was no theory. The _babies_ were growing fast.

"Vee, eevee, eh-veh," Eeveea suddenly said, moving a few steps away from her slightly bigger sister.

"Vee?"

"Veh!"

Her furry face full of questions, Eeveevee took a few leaps and bounced, paws extended awkwardly.

The eevee crashed together into the grass.

"A fledgling tackle move, brilliant."

She should have watched her teasing tone. Ann glowered. "They're _kits_. They have to keep at it to learn. Don't discourage them."

Valeria took a dutifully chastised look, holding back a grin. _Look at her, four-feet-two of protectiveness._

Ann had turned to the eevee, beaming with pride. "That was very brave of you."

Valeria met her pokemon's expectant eyes. "I'm proud of you too, Eeveevee. Just because don't go all mushy like Ann does, it doesn't mean I love you any less."

Adoring dark eyes gazed back at her. No wonder Mr. Cinders had given them the kits. Nobody cared about strange and having to make up stories when they had _eevee_.

Strange also had its perks. Every week, new rare pokemon settled in the farm. Valeria couldn't wait to hear one of them _talk_.

The cold hollow voice was branded in her mind. _'You overestimate yourself, Valeria.'_

She crossed her arms at the memory. She'd have found a way to help him, she would have!

"We're going to try something for every move you might have!" Ann was bouncing again. "Right, V?"

Valeria laughed. Ann was so excited, so… _serious_. "Go for it."

Many eevee could growl and frighten their opponents, while others used their tails like a whip to cut through their enemy's defense. Others shared their energy with allies to help them attack faster. Also – Valeria's mind came up blank.

She winced. Ann had made her memorize this like a hundred times and wouldn't hesitate one second to make it one hundred and one. _Sandstorms!_ Yup, that fourth common move was a storm of sand. More of the blinding than painful kind. Pretty cool, nonetheless.

Ann tried to explain to the eevee how to run and gather energy to make moving into actual _moves_ , but they didn't look any closer to getting anything done.

They were super cute, though.

Ann straightened. "Eeveea, imagine that tree is evil. Really, _really,_ evil," she said, her eyes narrowing at the evil tree. "Now if you growl hard enough, the tree won't be able to harm us."

Eeveea lifted herself clumsily on her two hind feet and yapped, a high sound full of conviction. Valeria couldn't help it: she burst into giggles.

Ann's glare and Eeveea's mortified expression made her serious again. Luckily Eeveevee seemed happy to see her laughing.

"Only little people criticize others for trying," Ann said, still glaring.

 _Oh, come on!_

"See that tree over there, girls?" Ann said, pointing at a sapling. "If you shake the biggest root hard enough it'll shake the whole tree."

Eeveea promptly sped off, her step light and purposeful.

Valeria crouched to scratch her pokemon's neck. "If Ann tells you both to do something, you should listen too, Eeveevee. What do you want to do?"

The kit turned upon herself a few times, as if looking for something on the ground. Valeria almost lost her balance when Eeveevee sped between her legs, making odd quick movements with her paws. A grasshopper bouced out from between Eeveevee's paws and the kit tromped after it –yeah, Eeveea was the graceful one-, ears quivering in excitement.

"You catch it, Eevee!"

It was well past midday –as their rumbling stomachs chorused pointedly- when they carried the eevee back to the terrace. Eeveea dragged herself halfway to Foxy before crashing, asleep before she'd hit the ground. Eeveevee dashed for the outdoor air conditioning unit, flattening herself right in front of the fan and turning her belly upwards to paw at the hot air blowing out.

Valeria's smile faded when she saw the tightness around Ann's eyes.

"What's wrong? We had loads of fun."

She was _exhausted_. She hoped Ann wouldn't make them go back to the library and research eevee again. She'd rather battle with Azu. She had to convince Ann to stop taking people's taunts so seriously.

"We did, but..." A blush crept on Ann's cheeks. "Well, trainer-wise it was… We need them to be _good_ for -"

Valeria grasped her best friend's shoulder. "Ann, Torchic and Treecko were grown pokemon raised for Journeys by the Professor's assistants. The eevee are still kits, give it one more month."

She barely missed Treecko anymore. Did it make her bad, to not miss him?

"They love us," Valeria insisted when Ann still looked down. "That's the hardest part, and we're doing great."

"I can't tell... pokemon are just…" Anabel shook her head. "Sometimes I think I sense something, but it's so _low_. I know they have feelings, but it's like I don't know how-"

"Ann, just by _looking_ at them. They love us."

"Did we deserve it? Or is just because they're little and we've been taking care of them?"

Valeria stared. "Did _they_ deserve it or is it just because they're cute and we need pokemon so bad?" Ann opened her mouth. "No, Ann, my question's just as dumb as yours. They love us. We love them back and do our best by them. Don't let dark thoughts ruin that."

"But what if they don't learn moves? We -" Ann took a sharp breath. "We have to make the other pokemon show them."

 **June 26th 341 – Friday.**

The girls crept down the stairs, their hearts hammering. The air grew colder with every step they took towards the cold room.

They'd never been inside since their visit the first day: Mr. Cinders took care of the ice-type eggs. But V had whispered about secret rooms and hidden dens, and Anabel had remembered there had been two doors in the cold room.

Two doors they had never opened.

The key clicked in the lock. Anabel wasn't sure she was supposed to know where the key was kept, but Mr. Cinders hadn't exactly _hidden_ it.

Anabel had gobbled down her lunch way too fast and her stomach was making her pay for it, but there was no time to waste.

The chill swallowed them whole as soon as they pushed the thick door.

"We're dragons," V whispered, breathing out white clouds and looking real proud about it.

Anabel grinned but she hurried to close the door behind them. "We don't know how long he'll be out, and Azu might find us. Hurry!" She was proud for thinking to grab a jumper, but she still had to rub her hands on her arms to warm them.

Sealeo eggs took ages to hatch, and the eggs from last month were still there. A single other egg rested in one of the cosy nests: swinub, from the furry piloswine who'd spent her four days at the farm following V around (because V was a big softie who sneaked her food).

The ice-covered room had already looked empty the first time, but Anabel hadn't noticed then how the dim overhead lights made everything a weird yellow. The windowless walls, the low ceiling… _nothing_ about this place was friendly.

"It's locked." Even hushed, V's voice bounced around, gathering into an almost-shout.

 _Jirachi, don't let anyone hear us._

The other mysterious door was boring storage, so they were left to stare at the locked gray door.

Fingers trembling, Anabel tried the first of the five keys of the key-ring she was clutching. The metal was freezing now, and stuck to her fingers.

 _Click_. The second key slid easily inside and twisted with barely any pressure from Anabel.

"If it's a secret, why didn't he put a lock with a code or something?" V whispered, a hand clutching Anabel's arm.

Anabel pushed the heavy door with a groan, and inside they went. The buzz of air conditioning grew louder and suddenly Anabel thought of home. Her chest constricted. Home that _wasn't_ haunted. Home that had once been a breeding farm full of dark dark secrets.

The new room was warmer but just as windowless, with light gray walls. It was _full_.

Anabel's eyes swept over the 'incubators' –which _did_ really look like goldeen-tanks -. There were a dozen of them. It all looked very… technological. The incubators were plugged in, with lights and monitors and… _eggs_.

Seven _big_ eggs in seven of the incubators.

"This could be sick bay." Anabel whispered as they crept closer, careful not to bump in anything. "He said he only put eggs in the incubators when something went wrong and the babies need help. What if we get them sick by being here?" She froze. "What if they get _us_ sick?"

V had frozen by her side and now they both held their breaths and stared.

Four of the eggs were the same, big and brown with small spikes that curled like claws. Did some species need more help than others? Was that why they were all in here? Two others looked like stretched-out amber rocks, and the last was so pretty, light-blue with iridescent freckles the size of her palm. They all were so _big_ , as big as an onix egg and maybe even bigger.

Anabel took out her pokedex, glad now that she always kept it with her. She turned on the egg-identifier app, EggID, and began to check the criteria _. 'Very large.' 'Rocky texture.' 'Markings.' '3D Markings.'_

"It's brown, not black, right?" V slowly nodded. ' _Dark_ _brown_ _.'_

The pokedex had narrowed it down to a single egg picture, and it was exactly theirs. Anabel sucked in a breath.

 _Tyrunt. Rock/Dragon. Fossil pokemon. Egg location: museums. Breeding: Restricted - scientists only._

Next to the egg picture was a _dinosaur_ with spiky teeth and sharp claws.

"Mr. Cinders' a secret scientist," V whispered. "Huh."

The amber eggs were aerodactyl. The iridescent blue ones amaura. All fossil, all 'scientists only'.

"They look fine, Ann." V's teeth were chattering. She tugged on Anabel's arm. "He's got the machines and everything."

"I don't know..." Whatever Anabel had expected to find, this wasn't it.

"This is so not worth losing the eevee over. We've got to go."

Anabel shoved her pokedex back in her beltpouch. V was right.

 _Crr-ccrrrrrk._

The girls turned as one. One of the amber eggs had twitched. That crack had not been there before.

 _CrRK!_

The egg twitched, small cracks snaking down from the first, and the blue lights around the incubator began to flicker red.

"Come to give a hand?"

Anabel screamed.

"Shh, you'll scare the eggs," Mr. Cinders said with a chuckle. He put his hand out, palm up. "My keys, please." Anabel shakily gave them back and Mr. Cinders crouched next to her at pointed at the cluster of detectors in the wall. "Temperature and humidity sensors, but also an alarm. Glad it's just you sneaky things."

Anabel couldn't move and just kept staring at Mr. Cinders. His spiky hair. His face that _didn't_ look furious.

He'd turned to the egg and was doing stuff on the incubator's control screen. "Bigwigs in the paleontology department are very eager for this little one. Should be female. Listen close, you can't fool around with fossils." He turned expectantly back at them when they didn't move. "You can go if you don't want to help…"

"No, we do!" Anabel said breathlessly. "What do we do?"

"First, you run back up and put on real coats."

It took _hours_. Baby aerodactyl had – _slowly_ \- punched a hole through the egg but then she had gotten stuck. She had been filthy with fluids. They had to wear gloves and masks and use the openings in the incubators to touch her. Any germs could kill her and she had to adapt first.

It was scary and disgusting. It was _awesome_.

"Scientists restored the species through fossils, but those fossil pokemon… they're all wonky," Mr. Cinders explained when V snickered at how terrible the bony dinosaur-bird was at breaking its own egg. "No real way to know if that's even what aerodactyl looked like millions of years ago." He shrugged and made a funny 'who knows?' face. "Smarter people than me say we're close, but…"

Anabel's smile fell when Mr. Cinders went very serious.

"Every single one of these eggs, that's _millions_. That's a big secret for little girls, but you decided to snoop, so now you've got to grow big shoulders and not run your mouths. Understood?"

She nodded quickly. "But…Boss, don't some trainers have fossil pokemon?"

"Trainers don't catch them wild. Scientists want to know how fossils learn and behave, so they lend them out." Mr. Cinders stretched his arms before him, cracking his knuckles. He grinned. "Worth it, no? To see this, even if you can't tell."

Yes. Yes it was.

Anabel took a deep breath to chase away the guilt in her stomach. Mr. Cinders was so busy, working earlier than them and staying up after they went to bed, but he still took so much time to teach them and answer all their questions…

It wasn't right to think bad thoughts about him.

Oo*oOo*oO

"That's enough, Eeveea! Stop making such a fuss and eat your meal. I know you're hungry and I know you like it."

Anabel balled her fists as the small pokemon stubbornly ignored the full plate. Anabel had cut up fresh mushrooms and everything.

Why wasn't Eeveea listening!

"I said I was sorry for coming in late this afternoon. I was with Mr. Cinders and it was important!"

Eeveevee munched happily at her own dinner. It wasn't fair.

Anabel wracked her brain for reasons. The other pokemon hadn't bothered her, right?

"Do you have a stomach ache, anything that hurts?"

But Eeveea wouldn't answer. Anabel's eyes narrowed.

 _'A pokemon will act out to test its trainer,'_ they'd told at camp. _'Kindness will get you loyalty, but strength will get you respect.'_

"Eeveea, eat your food. If you don't you won't be playing outside with us tomorrow and you'll be spending the night in the cage instead of with me," she said, struggling to conceal how much the defiance upset her.

Some of the other pokemon eating on the terrace edged back at Anabel's tone, but Eeveea wasn't even looking at her.

"Fine! V, let's go to bed."

"Vee-ee," Eeveevee plaintively inquired.

V picked her up, whispering about her sister being bad.

Eeveea rushed towards her as she tried to close the door to the terrace. Anabel scowled at her pokemon, clicking the door shut. She winced as she heard little paws rasp the wood.

Valeria squeezed her arm in sympathy.

"Eevee! Ee-veee-ee," the punished kit wailed through the thin door.

"You need to do as you're told, Eeveea," Anabel called, forcing her voice to be firm. Why did she feel so horrible for doing the _right thing_?

"Veh, veh, vee-ee!"

 _CRACK!_

 _Oh no._

A red-faced Anabel sprinted back upstairs. "Eeveea! _Ghosts_ , you -"

She pulled the door open and checked the wood. A thin long crack marred the painted oak.

Wisps of silver energy were still sizzling down the kit's tail. "Eh…"

Upon seeing Anabel's blazing eyes, Eeveea flattened herself on the ground, her ears folded backwards. She slithered back to her food bowl and buried her nose into it.

Oh _now_ she was eating.

"That's no tackle or tail whip," V said with a considering frown.

No, but Anabel had seen that move just yesterday. The dodrio mom had tried to rip at some of the mareep's shiny pink wool for her nest, and the bird had been so much bigger than Mareep that Anabel had been scared for him. She'd been wrong to be. Mareep had slammed Dodrio back in a flash of silver light that had had Mr. Cinders happily jot down stuff in his breeding files.

Mr. Cinders was going to be so mad. "Eeveea, get back here _right now_."

Nose touching the ground, Eeveea dragged herself before Anabel. She glanced up and abruptly hid her eyes behind her paw.

"They're picking up human mimics, it's so brilliant," V whispered.

 _I'm angry at her, I'm angry at her, I'm angry at her._ Ghosts, this was hard.

"Tonight, you're still getting punished for not listening," Anabel said, feeling like the worst person in the world, "but tomorrow, you'll get a treat because learning a new move is awesome."

Anabel kissed Eeveea goodnight and left her with Foxy. The older eevee was always so calm and affectionate.

"Want to stay with her, Eeveevee?" V said. "We have to find a way to fix the door before we go to bed. It could be very long."

The eevee yawned and went to settle next to the others.

"She's really headstrong..." When Anabel had been jealous because two-months-old Mareep had managed a real Iron Tail, she hadn't meant she wanted _this_.

"She's obedient 99% of the time." V gave her a rueful smile. "I found Eeveevee on the terrace at eight in the morning again. I've got a door-opening, gutter-climbing kit with a ten minutes attention span. What are you complaining about?"

Anabel chuckled, and sighed again. "I think Eeveea wants to be the boss too sometimes..."

"Smile. Tomorrow, we help Eeveea become the Queen of Iron Tails."

A grin burst on her lips. Finally, a real move! "Eeveevee won't be jealous, right?"

"Bah, if she is, I'll teach her not to be."

Mr. Cinders didn't kill them. He double checked that Anabel had disciplined Eeveea properly, and then he'd said _'I'll show you how to fix it_.'

He was nice. Really nice. It made Anabel not want to think about how a quarter of the pokemon had special colors – _shiny_ , the pokedex said-. Or how the same teenagers had brought some pokemon to breed, and then left with babies and mothers _others_ had brought. Teenagers she and V weren't supposed to have seen-.

"Maybe it's not so weird…" Anabel decided. "Nobody would _think_ fossils are being bred here, so thieves won't think about it either."

"Mr. Cinders would live in a prettier place, and a bigger farm, if he sold them for millions," V agreed.

On TV, bad guys had masks, secret identities, but Mr. Cinders… His spiky red hair was _terrible_ for hiding.

 _Jirachi, please, don't let us get in trouble._

"Maybe he's helping scientists who are out of luck, Ann. We'd not be here if he thought every rule was super important."

Mr. Cinders was such a great liar; how could they know he hadn't lied to them?

"V, hiring us, that… that's _illegal_."

Anabel had been avoiding that word like a curse, but now she couldn't shake it off.

* * *

 **Ch12 "Journey Tales" will be up on Sunday.**


	12. Journey Tales

**CHAPTER 12: Journey Tales**

A word on money. Currency: 'poke'. 10 poke = 1$. 1 pokeball = standard betting price of one battle between kids = 200 poke, so 20$ (affordable but not cheap). Facilities are free once the (compulsory) monthly passes have been paid for, because nobody wants kids to not wash or forego treating their pokemon well because of money.

* * *

 **July 5th 341 - Sunday**

"Good girls, fruits are good for you," Mr. Cinders teased, joining them in the farm's small kitchen.

Anabel grabbed Eeveea off the toaster and hurried to make space for the bag slung over Mr. Cinders' right shoulder. Her way-too-big mouthful of cherry cake made justifying eating cake as starter, main course, and dessert, impossible, so she dedicated all her energy to chewing and _not blushing_.

"We had to try them, Sir," V said, pushing some almond crumbs onto her spoon with her finger. "Everyone else at the bakery already knew _all_ the cakes. I hate feeling dumb."

Mr. Cinders let himself fall on a free chair. "I'd call a doctor if you ate sandwiches also on weekends. Where's Eeveevee?"

V shoved her spoon inside a peppermint pastry. "She'll turn up."

"You call the shots, Valeria. You want more time with her, follow her. Her mind goes 'Ooh I want to see this' not 'oh, my human might feel like I'm avoiding her if I don't call in every half hour.'"

Anabel smothered a laugh.

Mr. Cinders opened his arms in suggestion. "Buy a whistle and teach her to answer."

V nodded, looking much happier.

Mr. Cinders was making eyes at one of the pastries so Anabel pushed it forward with a grin.

It was so different with somebody there to explain everything. Those first nights, she and V been alone and too scared to admit how horrible it felt to have a hard time making Torchic and Treecko love them. It _shouldn't_ have been hard, but it was. Eeveea was… well, a kit, but Anabel felt more confident with her than she'd ever had with her starter.

"Ann, hold Eeveea tight," Mr. Cinders warned as he zipped the bag open. "Don't let her on the table."

Anabel's arms tightened over her little one. What was in that bag?

She gasped when Mr. Cinders took three glowing rocks, _evolutionary stones!_ , out of the outer pocket.

V leaned forward, her fingertips brushing the pulsing stones. Rich energy rippled on the surfaces, yellow, red, blue. Nothing happened when V touched them, but if Eeveea got too close, her body would suck all the energy, robbing the stones of their color, and she would evolve.

"It's 5000 poke a stone," Mr. Cinders said. "The bag also holds 5000's worth of Berries –that's one hundred of them- and 8000's worth of pokefood." Anabel's jaw dropped. "With the 200 a day I've been putting on your cards, that's all your money for the first two months. Pokemarts will buy it back from you at 90% price if you ask. Say your parents overestimated your supply needs. They won't ask questions." He chuckled at their faces. "I'm keeping the bag. Give it back when you've filled up your backpacks."

They had two payment cards each, with their money split into accounts. The first card -supplies- could only be used for food and clothes, at the pokemart, or to pay for campsite utilities and supplies. It had a weekly limit so they'd not splurge and then starve.

The second card –play- had a much higher limit and Mom and Dad couldn't check how the money on it was spent. It was the one used for fights and for free spending. Grandma had charged them up with 600 poke each, but all of Mr. Cinders' money had gone there, and despite all the cake and tickets to the Water Park, they still had more than half saved over.

Anabel took a slow breath, her eyes glittering in awe as she gingerly went to touch the stones. They were _warm_.

"You're early, Boss," she pointed out. "It's just been six weeks."

A guilty sigh broke Mr. Cinders lips. "Five couples coming in next week. I need you in good spirits."

The girls groaned as one. And she'd thought _three_ was busy.

Oo*oOo*oO

"Azu?"

"No, _no_ battling. Trainers here are mankey." She and V had refused to bet money to be fair, because Azu was strong, and those guys had _laughed_ at them. _'Come back when you're ten, Shorty. Don't stand there wasting our time.'_ Anabel was useless at smart comebacks, but this wasn't school, so she didn't have to stay around mean people.

"We're going to explore. V said there's lava that makes arches. Maybe we can spot pokemon we'll catch later."

Azu tugged at his ears and scrunched his face up, but he was still happy to follow them when he realized they wouldn't change their minds.

"It's so much money, V. What if Mom and Dad still find out?" Anabel whispered as they left the farm behind them.

Mr. Cinders had given them _evo stones_ , it was just... She'd expected to wait until Eeveea made up her mind on evolving, and then to hike somewhere where Rangers had spotted evo stones of the right type, maybe grouping up with other trainers if it happened to be in the wilds. Harvesting evo stones without them losing the energy that made them special was _hard_ , that's why they cost so much. She'd never expected to own one, let alone _three_ of them.

V was silent. She looked concentrated.

"Follow me," V suddenly said.

Anabel tried to ask, but V was set on being mysterious. They were almost running, Azu bouncing along.

They kept going up, closer and closer to the volcano. The houses climbed around the rocks to try and stay flat in a place where _nothing_ was. It slowly became like the opposite of where Mr. Cinders lived: those houses were larger, with lovingly nurtured gardens that had to grow by magic because no way this rock could allow anything to grow. One house was white and shiny under its slanted gray roof, as if daring the soot to come close. All around the houses, small waterfalls sprung out of the rock and mixed in the canal that split the road in two, all the way down to Lavaridge's center, filling the air with warm mist.

"Azu, could you wait a bit?" V said. "It won't be long." Azu bobbed his head and straightened. He was the most serious hip-high sentry in Lavaridge.

Anabel resigned herself to being dragged to the white house's neighbor until she saw the topmost plaque on the door. _Dr. E. Fiori – Licensed Therapist._

"She's brilliant for real and she can't tell anybody what we tell her," V said.

A laugh broke Anabel's lips as shocked relief melted her insides. They were going to tell? They had somebody they _could_ tell?

"Hello, Miss Peppers," V greeted as they gasped for breath after running up the two flights of stairs. "Is Dr. Fiori here? _Valeria_ ," V added as the young woman at the desk peered at her with a half-smile.

"Of course! I remember you well, Vali. I'm afraid Dr. Fiori won't be back for a while." What? _No!_ "She had a beautiful baby boy, Cole, just last week."

"Oh…" V shook herself. "Do you know where she lives, Miss?"

"I can pass along a message. She'll be very happy to hear from you."

V paused. "No," she decided. "It's okay."

Except it really wasn't.

V grabbed Anabel's hand and turned around to where they'd come from, a half-growl half-huff escaping her lungs as they went back down the stairs.

"I'll send a card for congratulations, I guess," V grumbled as they passed the door. "She could have waited."

Anabel was too drained to do anything but stare at her feet. It wasn't fair.

"So what do we do?" she finally muttered.

V crossed her arms. "We're kids, not Jennys," she said after a tense pause. "We do what we're told, get rich, go journey."

"Really?" Anabel breathed.

"Azu's seen us." Azu hopped up to them, almost gracefully for such a fat rabbit. V pointed beyond the last line of large houses. "Look over there, Ann, it's beautiful."

It was. The sun sparkled in the blue sky and lava rocks rose and fell to make the oddest arches and shapes. The landscape was painted all shades of brown, black and red. It looked like somebody had melted a huge candle of rock. Everywhere she looked, she had to look closer, finding wrinkles and caves digging deep in the mountain.

One of the tall arches made a gentle slope, and looked easy to climb.

"Up there, V! We'll get the best view."

The hardened lava was smooth and they gingerly crawled up, not quite daring to stand when six yards separated them from the hard ground.

 _Wow._

A flash of movement caught Anabel's eye. Something small, orange (or was it red?), darted into a crack between two rocks. It had to be a cave.

Belly-down on the arch, Anabel waved to get Azu's attention. With his short arms and legs, no way the chubby rabbit could climb, but he seemed to like it all the same. He waved back with his ears from below them and Anabel grinned.

She nudged V, checking the cave in case the shape came back out. "If it's friendly, we could see if it wants a trainer." They never went out without their belt-pouch and pokeballs.

V nodded. A grin bloomed on Anabel's lips. Time to get serious!

The cave was dark. _Duh_. But they couldn't use a torchlight or it would give them away. They crept inside, shoulder to shoulder, using their hands (and Azu his ears) to scout their surroundings.

Any pokemon with night-vision watching them now would laugh itself silly.

The seconds stretched by, and even with baby steps, the cave was getting _deep_. It had begun to turn. What if they'd stumbled upon an underground maze?

Excitement pumped through her limbs. She wanted to run. To whip out her flashlight. To shout and see if she'd get an echo back. But there was something magical about the darkness, about the silence that revealed V's shallow breaths and Azu's soft paws on the rocks.

V grabbed her arm tight. A light flickered from deeper into the cave, bringing a shadow against the walls. The shadows moved. The light grew clearer. Closer.

Voices echoed up to them. They froze.

"There are more magnetic metal veins twenty minutes from here." A girl's voice. "If there's a steelix -"

"How long are you going to string us along?" A much deeper voice snapped. "Did you see _any_ of it, Seth?"

"I'm a deep sleeper." That voice was a kid's, higher than the one who'd just accused him. He didn't sound afraid at all. "It still makes sense any freed onix would come here. They can taste the minerals in rock. They're far enough from their natural habitat to be stressed, that and being freed. They'll evolve as soon as the metal concentration-"

"Think in your head, Pokedex."

Anabel had been backing off slowly. Her breath hitched when her back hit the wall. They made Azu crouch with them and tried to become invisible.

"Come on, D," the girl's voice cut in. "Like you never found anything cool investigating your hunches."

The light on the rock filled with a shadow, a tall skinny shadow with a big humpback. A girl with a backpack appeared from behind the rocks. Her fat side-braid wasn't blue, it was _blues_ , dyed like in the magazines.

A square muscled boy with his arms crossed in challenge followed right behind the girl. "There's hunches, Nova, and there's being full of it." He was totally a teenager. The kind she'd expect to see in secondary, not journeying.

But then teenagers too old for journeys had brought Mr. Cinders eggs and pokemon often enough. What if he was one of those?

V's hands squeezed Anabel's shoulders too hard to let her move.

Something small and fast burst out of the shadows. _The orange pokemon!_ A growlithe.

So it wasn't wild… But Anabel was excited just to _see_ one. It was all fuzzy and soft, a little like an orange-and-black doggy-version of the eevee.

It stopped, staring at them in the gloom. Its tail started wagging.

Anabel grinned.

"Make sure to dish out compliments," V whispered as Anabel moved forward. "Even if they're rude at first."

She crawled towards the growlithe, hand outstretched to look friendly.

 _Wha-_ A hand snaked around her shoulders and tugged her hard. Anabel crashed backwards into the blue-haired girl who had her trapped in a chokehold half-hug.

"Look I caught an unown! Think it evolves?"

Her head stuffed in the girl's T-shirt, all Anabel could see now was an orchestra of hoot-hoot playing on a vivid pink background.

"It has to be a six trapped in a tiny body," the square boy said. "No kiddy would _dare_ sneak up on us."

They had to have a sixth-rank gym badge just to not be considered kiddies? And she was _not_ tiny!

She gasped for breath as the girl let her go.

"What do you want, Kiddy?" The square boy was almost as big as _Dad_. Handsome, but scary.

 _Compliments_. Anabel sucked in a breath for bravery. "You look like you know stuff." Ghosts, did her voice have to shake? She forced her shoulders square. She'd _not_ be swatted away like some annoying natu. "We didn't want to bother, just ask a few questions."

V was smart. The guy got out of Anabel's face. He looked cold, but he didn't _feel_ mean.

" _We_?" Blue-hair was _really_ tall from up close: freckled and stooped and way skinny, like she'd been stretched out. Her smile was wide and teasing. "Do I need to throw a pokeball to get her here?"

V was still curled up against the wall, keeping Azu back, her eyes wide and tense.

"What kind of wisdom do you seek?" Anabel heard _ally_ in the new voice and scrambled to face her. Gorgeous dark eyes met Anabel's from behind red cat-eye glasses.

"I'm Rosie." She wore a rainbow, dyed in her many tight thin braids. Her skin was brown, darker than Valeria's. And Anabel would _not_ be making stupid tan or holiday comments this time.

Rosie squeezed up to them, using the big boy's arms and shoulders for balance as she moved around him. He didn't look so scary anymore.

Rosie sat on the round and gestured for them to do the same. "I've always wanted to chat with strangers in a dark cave." Behind Anabel, V giggled and crawled over to sit between her and Rosie. The girl was wearing a dress over her tight canvas pants, and it was ridiculously lovely for Journey wear.

 _Now_ Anabel felt like a kiddy, but she wouldn't let it matter. She settled next to V while Azu waddled closer to Growlithe.

"I got into a fight with a big kid. He freed a slaking," Anabel began as they were all seated. It hadn't happened to _her_ , but she'd been there when Nico had told the story, "and I called him ungrateful, because you don't just throw away a pokemon who fought so long with you because you found a rarer one to show off, right? But then he told me how putting a pokemon in a computer and forgetting about them was for cowards and that his slaking would find another worthy trainer."

"She tried to get him to trade the slaking for her wimpy zigzagoon instead. Both he and the slaking just laughed at her."

Anabel blushed at the chuckles V's word sparked.

"Where did he dump the slaking?" the tall girl, Nova, said eagerly. She leaned to the side to put her flashlight down next to the growlithe.

Its fur caught the light. It was cut to mimic flames. _So cool_.

"So what?" The square boy, _D_ , cut in. "I've freed pokemon, even evolved ones. Some got tired of battling, some got tired of me, some were just terrible."

"I caught a nidoqueen in the wild."

Anabel's eyes had slid over the second boy at first glance. He was the smallest of the four by far, but now his scarf was staring at her right in the face. Ten – Anabel squinted – no, _twenty!_ badges were pinned to it.

"Queen was the easiest pokemon to train. She knew what I wanted, I knew what she wanted and she battles so well I'm half convinced she didn't lose on purpose to get herself caught."

"We all know your mom fed you chansey, Seth."

D was calling Seth lucky? Anabel was still staring at the badges. No way this was all luck.

Twenty–one, twenty-two… twenty- _four_. Anabel recognized all of Hoenn's eight, and the others were Johto and Sinnoh. He'd done three whole regions. _Wow_.

"You must have so many stories…" She hoped this would be her one day.

Seth began telling them about a rhyhorn who'd been living with a family of pikachu. He mimed the bulky rhinoceros-pokemon sauntering after the much smaller electric mice. Anabel couldn't stop laughing. With his round cheeks, Seth looked a bit like a mouse himself, his wide dark-yellow eyes glittering.

She wished she'd been there.

"There was this trainer," Rosie said with a laugh, "he called a garchomp… I almost fainted. I had just two badges… That garchomp, though… its attacks were so weak that Wisp, my starter, blew right through it. The guy told me he'd caught it already evolved. Poor Garchomp had been freed so long ago he'd forgotten everything."

"Doesn't always work out," Darren grumbled. "I brought my kid sisters out, back when I was eleven. Figured I'd give them a taste for training. My whole team was destroyed by three wild bellsprout." _Bellsprout_? Darren chuckled dryly at Anabel's face. "Some asshat power-trained a bunch and got bored. Why they didn't evolve… some pokemon just don't." He shot the growlithe a look and Nova pulled her tongue out.

"So how far along are you two?" Seth asked Anabel, straightening his scarf and flashing off his badges even more. "Your azumarill looks smart."

Azu shuffled up to Seth, his long ears folding to fondle one of the badges.

"That's Sinnoh's Relic Badge," Seth said, crouching tall so they could get a better view. "I had to beat three ghosts to earn it. Sinnoh has the best designs."

Anabel couldn't say it. _No badges. Zero_. They were _zeroes_. And that boy with his big cheeks and curtained silver hair had twenty-four badges.

"Ever met pokemon that spoke like us?" V intervened. Her eyes were glittering and even Azu straightened.

Anabel shuddered at the memory of those glowing red eyes, and that evil smile.

"Five," Seth promptly boasted. "All psychic types, four of them belonging to other trainers. Spoke in my mind, not out loud, except for a slowking who talked like you and me."

"I caught one, a jinx. He mind-spoke." Nova grimaced. "I was a moron, so I told everyone I met I'd caught him."

"That's the jinx which -"

"Got stolen right out of Rustboro," Nova finished, anger squaring her jaw. "Well, they traded me a lousy pidgeot for it, but they were many, and bigger than me. I was scared they'd beat me up if I said no. The Jennys weren't much help."

The words had slammed a heavy silence in the cave and suddenly the rocks and shadows looked bigger, _evil_. Anabel was about to blurt about Torchic but V grabbed her wrist.

At least Nova had gotten a trade. A pidgeot sounded wonderful.

"I knew a woman with a scyther who talked," Nova added after a tense pause. "And a friend from Sinnoh said he'd seen a talking floatzel in a show at a waterpark, but it's mostly just psychic types. One was a gallade, Rosie."

An in-love sigh left Rosie's lips. She fluttered her eyelashes at Valeria. "Catch a boy ralts for me? I'll help you train him. He'll be the _best_."

V smiled shyly. "I-"

"I got pokemon stolen twice." Darren cracked his knuckles. "Some people, they try to know fast when a good pokemon gets caught, before the pokemon gets loyal. Want others to do the searching and catching for them…"

How could anyone dare to steal from him?

"Got them back both times. Pokeballs have trackers." He looked so scary. "That second kid, they found him at the hospital with his leg all messed up. Moron stole the wrong ball and found himself with Tauros. Tauros wasn't happy."

Anabel tightened her hold on V, who listened entranced.

"The first thief, a girl, thought she'd be clever. She freed my new riolu and caught him back with her own pokeball," Darren continued. "The Jennys just marked the time and place he was stolen, and checked the owners of every newly caught riolu in the area. So like, two people. They shredded her License so fast she didn't even get the time to cry."

Wait, Jennys could find any newly caught pokemon?

"Don't criminals have untraceable pokeballs?" V shrunk as four sets of eyes fell on her. "Maybe it's just a fake novel thing…"

Nova shook her head, her fingers digging into her lounging growlithe's fur. "I waited too long to declare the theft. I figured since it was a trade… I blamed myself and shit. The Jennys did try to trace back the signature, but time screws things up, and anyway, I'd done a _legal_ trade."

 _Time screwed –_ Anabel's shoulders slumped. It wasn't fair.

Seth stood up. "So you battling or what?" He was barely taller than V. Was he eleven yet?

Nova stood up too and put on a white cap, backwards. "Let's go outside."

They all moved, so Anabel scrambled after them, wincing as sunlight flooded her face.

Azu bounced around enthusiastically. "Azu?"

 _Twenty-four badges._ No way Azu was _that_ strong.

Seth frowned and cocked his head. His scarf was as big as a flag around his shoulders –a _scarf_ , even cotton, in _July_ \- but now Anabel felt like _she_ was the weird one.

V's elbow dug into her side but Anabel's tongue stayed glued to her mouth. Sweat pearled on her brow, and it wasn't just the stifling heat.

"Chill," Seth said, his eyes roaming over Azu. "I'll go easy."

"You bet they're zeroes? Hungry for tales of adventure, too scared to make their own." Nova's cutting laughter had Anabel flinch and edge back.

Eyes stinging, she grabbed V's hand and stormed off.

"Ann, what –"

"Dad was right!" she spat, hurrying away.

"Wait," Rosie called, "don't run!"

"The _kiddies_ are going on an _adventure_ on their _own_!" Anabel shouted back. _There_! For once she'd found something to answer back! _Ghosts_ , were trainers anything else than judging mankey?

Why was _V_ staring at her weird?

"Azu? Azumarill, Azu, mah." Bouncing behind them, Azu was _not_ happy. " _Zuuuuuuu_!"

"If he said you're a tiny bit sensitive, I agree," V pointed out, nevertheless still running alongside her. "They weren't mean."

 _Really?_ "Well, you were friendly with that guy who threatened to feed me to your neighbor's mighthyena." V stared at her blankly. "Mrs. something? When I followed you home…"

V snorted. "He was messing with you. Nobody's allowed mighthyena in the apartments."

Anabel crossed her arms, a flush creeping up her face. "He was scary enough to make it sound real." She inhaled sharply. "Why _battling_? Why does it all come back to that? Why couldn't they show us their pokemon instead? Why can't Azu be awesome even _without_ battling?"

"Ann –"

"We can be good trainers even if we haven't got any badges! We've been taking care of _heaps_ of pokemon. I bet we've seen so many more than Seth ever has! They think-"

" _Anabel_!"

V's arms went around her, trapping her into a hug tight enough to silence her. "It's fine. It's going to be fine. Our Journey, us, our eevee, everything, it's brilliant, and it'll get even better once we start traveling for real."

Only then did Anabel notice the cool tears running down her own cheeks. She hugged V back, taking slow breaths until she didn't feel so bad. "He's a lot bigger than us, right? Seth. Even if he looks little." V _was_ tall for their age.

"He's got to be twelve at least. Maybe older even, some people are just small. The other three definitely are teenagers. I mean, Rosie has _breasts_."

Anabel nodded. "Sorry, I just… I want to be a trainer. I love the farm, I do, but…"

 _Zeroes._ Like they'd done nothing. Like they were worth nothing.

It was worse, with V saying they weren't being mean. If they were mankey, then Anabel could just not listen. If they were nice people, real great trainers, then… then they were _right_.

 _Zeroes_.

She took a shaky breath. "We need a good plan, for when we're done with work. So we can go fast. So we can catch up."

"Ann, people get jobs all the time. We're doing things out of order. We'll have just as much done as anyone else at the end, though. More even. Nobody in your family or mine has a clue about breeding farms."

Out of order. Yeah, that's all it was. Anabel's lips twitched and she let her crossed arms drop to the side. "I'm silly, right?"

"No. Maybe you're _acting_ a bit silly, though."

Anabel rolled her eyes.

"Dr. Fiori said there was a big difference between being and acting." V was very serious.

Anabel giggled, but soon she felt guilty.

"Sorry I ruined it. I… we can explore some more. I'd love to see slugma, or a torkoal."

V paused, and Anabel could feel the heat burning her own cheeks. If V wanted to go back to them, to say sorry –

"What direction?" V said.

Anabel grinned and ran off towards the tallest lava arch she could see. "C'mon, Azu, you're the water master, they'll take one look at you and dive for cover!"

In less than ten seconds, the bouncy rabbit was ahead, bouncing high and hard, to make sure _everyone_ knew he was coming.

The girls' laughter echoed against the rocks.

* * *

 **Next chapter: "Azu's Show", will be up on Thursday.**


	13. Azu's Show

**CHAPTER 13: Azu's Show**

 **July 16th 341 - Thursday**

A vicious high-pitched snarl had Anabel start. She dropped the carton full of empty pokemix packs she was carrying. There was a fight going on outside.

Eeveea was already speeding towards the park.

"Eeveea, stop! V, come over here!"

Thank Jirachi for hopper windows and locked doors. Eeveea was stuck yapping and pawing at the handle. Anabel picked her up before shoving the door open and stepping outside.

Her jaw dropped when she realized the source of the snarls was _Eeveevee,_ all puffed up in rage, teeth bared at a feathered green blob half her size. The gulpin mom.

Gulpin was trying to get away but Eeveevee blocked her at every turn.

V stepped in between them. "What's happening here?"

Rapid speech burst from Eeveevee's lungs. Something about having eaten a… _bouncy_? _what?_

Eeveea tried to jump out of Anabel's arms. "You stay," Anabel warned, tightening her hold on the kit.

"Why are you mad at Gulpin?" V was trying, but Eeveevee kept circling her to get to the agitated poison-type.

 _Bouncy, boucy..._ Hey, where was Eeveevee's bouncing pidgey? "I think Gulpin swallowed her toy," Anabel called.

Eeveevee bared her teeth. "Veh!"

V groaned, making a grab for feathered blob. "Gulpin, spit it out, now!"

Gulping snarled. Something about the way she had begun bouncing on the ground made Anabel's senses flare in warning.

"V, she's going to attack you!"

Eeveevee was faster. A murky brown pool of energy gathered around her, like a sticky mud-mantle. "Ee-vee-veeeeeee!"

Dust and grime shot out from the ground, swallowing the gulpin in a column of dry mud.

V hesitated, but then she stepped in, catching the blinded creature by her big yellow feather. V made a face and forced the gulpin's thick lips apart.

Wincing and covered in dirt, V pulled the acid-coated remains of bouncy-pidgey out of Gulpin's mouth. _Ew._

Mr. Cinders was going to tease them so bad.

V had yet to let go of Gulpin. She turned to the water point.

Anabel's eyes widened, her arms clutching Eeveea tight. "No, don't!"

But V didn't listen. She threw the gulpin straight into the shallow water. Except it wasn't shallow for _Gulpin_! The pokemon landed with a splash, spluttering and gasping for air.

"Everybody calm down!" Tyrogue's battle stance barely wavered. _Ghosts_. Anabel willed her voice more stern. "That you too, Tyrogue!"

She sighed in relief when Azu bounced in the middle of them, energy sizzling around his paws. The other pokemon quieted real quick.

Anabel rushed to fish Gulpin out of the water before she drowned. _What a stupid pokemon._ Still, Anabel felt guilty when Gulpin, dripping wet, dived for cover in the bushes, looking absolutely panicked.

Anabel turned to glower at Azu. Eeveea was still in her arms. "Why were you just standing there before?"

Azu jabbed a half-folded ear at Tyrogue. "Ah –zu." _Mine_. He then jabbed it towards Eeveea while his other ear folded to point towards the building, at where V and Eeveevee had gone. "Zuh azu." _Not mine._ His ear finally slapped Anabel on the arm. "Azumarill zuh azu mah."

Anabel blinked. _You're a trainer. You don't need me._ Unless it was _you_ shouldn't _need me?_ Azu bounced away, leaving Anabel unsure of whether he'd said something encouraging, or if he'd told her off.

She hurried after V and found her in the small kitchen, her hand under cold water as she scrubbed the last of the mud off her arms. Anabel released Eeveea, who rushed to her sister.

"Stomach acid, it stings." V made a disgusted face. "I've got to wash bouncy-pidgey, Eevee. Ugh, he's kind of chewy-pidgey now... I don't think you should play with it in front of the other pokemon. They get jealous."

A furious growl rumbled out of Eeveevee's chest, startling both girls. For the first time ever, the kit looked… _dangerous_.

Relief she couldn't quite explain brought a smile to Anabel's lips. She hovered next to V, peering worriedly at her reddened hand.

"I'm fine. It's just a gulpin." V turned proud silver eyes on the grumpy eevee at her feet. "Sand Attack, huh? Thanks for saving me, Eevee. And you know what happens when you learn a new move, don't you? Presents!"

That word flipped a switch. Eeveevee joyfully started jumping all around V.

Mr. Cinders' voice broke through their laughter. "Girls, I almost broke a leg on that carton."

 _Oops_. "I'll get it right away, Boss."

"My fault, Sir," V mumbled, eyes downcast. "It won't happen again, Sir."

"Valeria, when did I ever bite you?"

Anabel swallowed back nervous laughter. She'd never have believed anyone both as nice and suspicious as Mr. Cinders could exist. That story about the four friends who each had a bunnelby and had decided to breed them all at the same time to celebrate their friendship was pretty awesome. It explained why four bunnelby eggs had shown up in the shed yesterday morning. Except June had had a bunny period, so Anabel knew that bunnelby, on top of being from Kalos (so half the world away), weren't allowed in Hoenn. Trainers had freed some before, and the bunnelby had multiplied like lightning and wrecked a whole chunk of rainforest before Rangers had caught them all. They were like rattata on steroids.

"What's with the hand? Everything good?"

"All good, Sir." V said, lips twitching. "Gulpin tried to get Eevee's toy. I won."

Mr. Cinders barked a laugh. "Good on you."

"And Eeveevee learned Sand Attack!" Anabel added triumphantly, skipping all the way to the carton she'd left in the corridor.

But maybe you _could_ have bunnelby if you promised not to free them, ever. Besides, it wasn't fair to forbid them trainers. Why shouldn't bunnelby be allowed to get tough like every other pokemon? And like V said, _not worth losing the eevee over._

Mr. Cinders was still there when Anabel returned after having thrown the carton into the big trash container.

He stared at them knowingly. « How long's it been? »

Anabel beamed when her brain caught up. « Two months!"

He made big eyes at them. "Then what are you waiting for?"

Anabel squealed and rushed for the cellar, where they'd left their belts, and their pokeballs. V was right behind her. And then in front of her. Stupid long legs.

They returned to find Mr. Cinders and the two eevee in his garden. Eeveea watched Anabel curiously as she stopped two yards away.

Anabel ran her thumb over and over the pokeball's surface. She'd had that little red-and-white sphere, and five others like it, in her belt-pouch for months, but now it felt so much more valuable than it ever had.

They were back on track. They were going to have their own pokemon.

Her breath caught and she threw the pokeball, her whole body moving to increase aim. It sped for Eeveea and Anabel winced, afraid something wouldn't work and it'd slam straight in the kit's cute little face.

Light cracked from the juncture between the two halves of the pokeball. Then it opened, transforming her fluffy Eeveea into a beam of red energy.

The ball shut with a soft click before hitting the ground.

It wobbled in the grass.

Anabel held her breath, counting to five. Pokemon could break out, or even make the ball break in a million pieces.

 _One._

 _Two._

 _Three._

 _Four._

At five, the pokeball had gone completely still.

Happy laughter burst from Anabel's lips.

She had a starter. Eeveea was her starter!

 **July 24th** **341 - Friday**

A jet of large bubbles sprayed from Azu's mouth and soared for the sky, shimmering under the sun.

He then grabbed a fist-sized rock and threw it in the air. The fat bubble tip of his tail flashed silver and slammed into the falling rock.

Anabel gaped as the rock shattered in half. Both pieces buried themselves into the ground.

Azu rolled into a ball, moving so fast he became a blur. The broken food-cage they use for practice was no match for him. The wood screamed and was blasted back two yards . Azu wasn't finished. He bounced, swallowed in bright dark-blue energy. The cage soared and crashed against the wall of Mr. Cinders' house, as if it had been made of feathers, raining wood shards all over the garden.

"How come people don't break like that? Or even stadiums? Those battles look fierce: they should need repairs all the time."

"I dunno... Gym leaders must know. You'll ask then." Anabel was just happy that violent pokemon moves weren't nearly as violent when they were used against anything that wasn't a pokemon, and especially people.

"It must be an energy thing," V mused.

Anabel glanced one last time at the list: Bubble beam, Aqua Tail, Rollout and Superpower. She snorted at the last. _Strong Attack_ didn't have the same ring to it.

Azu, finished with his show, was bouncing around them eagerly. Eeveea and Eeveevee stared wide-eyed, picturing themselves all big and awesome, just like him.

Which was the whole point of Azu showing off.

"It was cool of Mr. Cinders to give us the day off," she pointed out. "What were you two talking about this morning?"

"There's going to be a new guy working here, Lars. Mr. Cinders wants us to show him around." V said. "He'll work full time here starting in August."

 _August_ , already. And in November, no matter what, they'd have to go home for the winter.

Anabel squared her shoulders. "You know what, Azu? We're going to battle. For real."

Azu bounced up to her and lightly slapped her arm with his ear. It meant _'cool'_ and _'you better not change your mind.'_

Mr. Cinders wouldn't give them Azu's pokeball and Azu didn't like bikes, so they walked up to the Battle Grounds under the blistering sun. They found their new favorite thing when they reached the dozens of small fountains that sprouted from the ground at the entrance of Lavaridge Park. Half the city's kids were playing in the water.

One side of the park was taken by The Battle Grounds. They were closer than the Gym and anyone with pokemon could battle. Anabel and Valeria showed their licenses, signed the rules sheet, and were allowed inside with Azu.

They let out twin sighs of happiness when cool wind hit them. All around them huge fans made the place breathable.

"The white tent is where the beginners are," the receptionist said.

Anabel wanted to see a _real_ battle. "No, Azu has been training for a long time."

The man peered at her through narrowed eyes. "I can't stop you from fighting above your level, but you won't be doing anybody favors if you do. What badge you'd rate your azumarill?"

"Fifth," Anabel guessed, hoping her cluelessness wasn't written all over her face. Azu was supposed to easily beat trainers coming in for the Heat Badge, and that was rank four.

"Light-blue tent, third to the right."

V glared as soon as they'd left the man behind.

"What? That's fair."

"Do you have any clue on how to give Azu orders? We haven't even battled _once_."

Anabel blushed. She took a moment to think. "How about we set the rules and say the pokemon are to fight on their own while we watch. Alright, Azu?"

The fat hip-tall rabbit stared. Finally, he merrily agreed.

V squeezed Anabel's arm. It felt like an apology for snapping. Anabel straightened, now proud of her plan.

"There's bound to be trainer who agrees to fight our way," she declared.

Battle noises: orders and shouts, pokemon roars and shrieks, filtered through the thick canvas. V was trying to look cool and confident, but Anabel couldn't help being so very excited.

That is until she stood among them.

There were maybe twenty trainers, most around their age, but they had an air of experience about them. They didn't stop to gawk at the arenas drawn in the ground, those mounds of upturned earth littered with rocks that had seen thousands of battles.

But there was _so much_ to gawk at. TV just wasn't the same. The air sizzled with poke-energy. Anabel could almost taste it. Closest to them a ludicolo battled a shiftry in a tornado of cutting leaves, their trainers' voices shouting orders and encouragements. Noisiest was the ludicolo shouting and stomping, sending blue sound waves crashing through the whole arena.

"Best of three?"

Anabel started and turned.

"No super-effective types?"

A green-haired boy in shorts and huge bright-red socks had somehow appeared right in front of them.

"Best of one and the pokemon fights on its own, no orders given by the trainer." Anabel really hoped she looked confident. "We want to try out something new."

"Ooh, I like a challenge," a familiar voice replied.

Anabel squirmed as she spotted the dark-skinned speaker, and her rainbow hair. _Rosie_. She was with the big tough boy, Darren.

Anabel had to own up, or they'd think she was a silly kiddy forever. "I'm sorry I ran off. You weren't being mean. I…"

"You're no fives," Darren cut in. "What are you doing in this tent?"

 _Hey, Anabel was trying to apolog_ -. Rosie put an arm around Darren's shoulders and smiled broadly. "My cousin is a very serious man," she said, tearing an aggravated look from the bigger boy. "Are you meeting people?"

Anabel took a deep breath and didn't lower her eyes. She deserved to be here. Or at least _Azu_ did. She just wanted it really badly.

"Azu's too strong for our other pokemon," she said. "But he can fight on his own, so we thought..."

A considering smile flitted over Rosie's lips. She turned to Darren. "It might be a good lesson for Hypno."

Darren grimaced. "If he wins, I'll lose-" His eyes narrowed. "He's got to lose."

They wanted to _lose_?

"Hypno's a psychic type. You've faced those?" Anabel whispered to Azu.

"Zu, azu, zu," he said. She heard ' _I've faced everything.'_

Anabel wished Darren would just smile, because the way his eyes slid over them to focus on Azu, as if she and V didn't exist made her want to back off and hide.

"Hypno was trained by a tutor," Darren told Azu. "That's people whose job is to teach pokemon moves they'd otherwise not learn. Hypno's a bruiser. He's not very good on his feet, but knows all three punches. Thunder, Focus and Fire. He knows his types. He'll not use fire."

Azumarill bobbed his ears. "Azumarill." _Got it._

Anabel squared her shoulders. She wasn't invisible. She wanted to be part of this and even if V was being shy, Anabel knew V wanted it too. "Why punch attacks?" she said. "Shouldn't a hypno confuse and use psychic beams?"

"That's the point," Darren said impatiently. "That's why the tutor did this. Hypno has been made into a fighting pokemon. That's why I traded for him. But he's being stubborn and just uses the punches. He knows Confuse Ray. I want him to listen to me and use it too."

"Why do you keep Hypno if he's trouble?" Anabel said.

"Most pokemon are trouble at first," Rosie answered, her smile full of battles won. "Especially the stronger ones. It's part of the game. Did you find a pokemon by the volcano in the end?"

Anabel shuffled her feet. "No… the slugma kept running away." Flashes of live lava, disappearing between cracks of stone in a blink. Could you even hug live lava? Anabel hated to admit she was just as happy none of the slugma had wanted to get caught.

Rosie laughed. "They're a lazy bunch, even those who want trainers. One look at your Azu, and they knew you'd cut them no slack. You should've baited them with a weaker pokemon."

Anabel didn't feel invisible with Rosie, but she felt so little. Ghosts, she had so much to learn still!

"Here we go," Darren announced, a pokeball in hand.

Hypno was just like the pokedex picture, standing a head taller than Anabel, with yellow skin, cat ears and a hooked beak-like nose. He would have been almost cute in an awkward way, but he had no mouth. Creepy. Hypno held a pendulum in his left hand and cracked his knuckles, staring down at the much, much smaller Azu.

"Hypno, today's a special battle. No orders from me. You win, and I'll shut up about Confuse Ray. You lose, and you admit you need to listen to me to get stronger."

Hypno peered at Darren through its drowsy eyes. "Hypno, hypno?"

"It's not a trap," Anabel said with a nervous laugh. "Azu had a better trainer than us before. He's strong like you, but we'd give him all the wrong orders."

Zeroes. They had to change that. The next time she'd step into a battle-tent, Anabel wanted to belong.

There were four arenas under the tent, all roughly oval-shaped, with railings to mark beginning and end, and rocks scattered on the sides. They were big enough to give pokemon some running space, but small enough that trainers could be heard despite all the noise. Rosie showed them how to use their pokedex to get in line, and despite it saying '13 minutes', it was less than ten before their arena got free.

The magnemite's trainer who'd just lost looked stunned by how quickly Crawdaunt had beaten –trounced really- her pokemon. The winner snickered. "Soooo, you still think that a three with a super-effective is worth a five?"

Whatever the girl who'd lost was thinking, she hid it behind an eyeroll and a hurried pace towards the exit. The boy who'd won began whistling a tune, searching for somebody else to battle.

Darren lightly shoved Anabel forward. "Move it."

V and Rosie were already in the right spot.

Hypno went over to his side of the arena. Azu waddled off to his, already looking like he was enjoying himself. Anabel and Valeria stood shoulder to shoulder, their hands grasping the railings, as the two pokemon faced each other.

"Remember to move if they come close, Kiddies," Darren warned. "Those blasts stings. Hypno, Azumarill, GO!"

Golden energy began sizzling around Hypno, gathering around his muscled right arm.

Anabel's breath hitched. It had started! That had to be a Thunder Punch.

Azu, for all his girth, was fast. He didn't attack. Instead he began running.

Hypno closed the distance between them, rolling out of the way of a beam of pressured bubbles. He jumped back upright, ready to punch.

Azu, hidden by the bubbles, had moved to the side. He slammed Hypno down with his tail, and it didn't _wham_ like a human punch or like an object of the same size would have, it _SLAMMED_ , powered by the impossible energy that burned so strong in pokemon.

Hypno snarled but recovered in seconds. His arm glowed with sizzling electricity once more.

Anabel flinched.

Azu rolled into a ball, but instead of meeting Hypno head on, he moved away, fleeing at enhanced speed. Hypno growled impatiently and sprinted after him. Azu couldn't keep the ball forever. He was slowing and there was the tent's wall. Hypno was bigger and had big legs, and he was getting closer, his fist raised high.

Anabel held her breath.

Hypno dived.

Rosie whistled when Azu rolled against the canvas, climbing half-way up the ceiling, to avoid Hypno's Thunder Punch.

 _WHAM!_ Hypno slammed lightning and thunder into the taut tent fabric, and Anabel was astounded it didn't tear.

Azu was back upright, back arched, mouth open, and something blue gathering inside. A jet of bubbles shot forth, pinning Hypno against the canvas he'd struck seconds before. Each bubble was like a tiny but vicious punch, and there were _hundreds_.

"Your Azu, he's impressive," Rosie said.

Anabel perked up. "He's more powerful than fifth badge?"

"Hard to say so quickly, but he's very well trained."

"How can you tell?"

Rosie chuckled. "There are three levels of good. The first, basic: the pokemon obeys your orders properly, but he hesitates in between two attacks. Sometimes he gets emotional, and he doesn't do much except obey. The second level, the attacks really come one after the other, the pokemon gets where your orders come from, and he's learned to dodge. A great pokemon knows what to expect from moves. They anticipate and twist them in their favor. They… well, they can fight a whole battle without your help."

Rosie laughed outright when Anabel took her notepad out. But how else was she supposed to remember it all?

A flash of purple had Anabel snap back towards the two pokemon.

"That's the ray," V exclaimed, leaning over the railing as much as she dared.

Darren was _smiling_. "Hypno gets less picky when he's losing."

Anabel grinned when he met her eyes.

Azu wobbled, shaking his head, and started running in circles.

"What's he doing?"

"I told you he's good," Rosie said, her hands clasped eagerly in front of her as she leaned against the railing. "He's confused so he keeps moving, but he doesn't attack because he could hurt himself."

But Hypno wasn't confused, and he was sprinting forward with a lightning-fist as big as Azu's head.

"Wa- _ummpf_." Darren's hand over Anabel's mouth muffled her warning shout. He let her go with a glare. "Don't interfere. Azumarill's winning."

 _Winning?_ Anabel flinched as Azu sailed half-way through the arena. _Yeouch._ But just like Hypno, Azu shook it off in seconds and was up and ready for more.

"How long has Azu been battling?" Darren said through narrowed eyes. "This isn't just skill and discipline, it's experience, years of it. Your parents' pokemon?"

Anabel's eyes darted to her best friend.

"You're right, we inherited him, I guess," V said, sparing Anabel the need to spin a tale or, more likely, stare awkwardly at the ground. "I'm not sure how long."

"Then _ask_."

Anabel squirmed under Darren's gaze. The big teenager with the serious close-cut hair had to think they didn't deserve a single piece of Azu.

Now, even she could see that Azu was winning. Hypno's attacks had seemed so strong, with the lightning cackling all around, and his crazy-fast charges when he bolted with his Focus Punch all powered up, but Azu dodged and deflected, and when he didn't, he stood up as if it had been just a slap. Hypno's chest heaved with every step. He was taking longer and longer to power his punches while Azu bounced about like he'd just finished warming up.

But Hypno hadn't given up. He rammed into the smaller pokemon, his right fist shining white. Azu was knocked backwards hard and crashed into one of the rocks that lined two sides of the court.

Anabel clamped her teeth, wincing.

They were so awesome _._

Hypno turned to Darren. "Hypno!" he called out triumphantly, his voice nasal and deep, and totally there despite the lack of mouth.

"Dude, pay attention," Darren sternly said.

Anabel sucked in a breath. One of the rocks landed straight on Hypno, and this time Hypno wasn't quick to stand. He stumbled and backed away, and if he'd had a mouth, he'd totally be gasping.

Azu, the dark blue glow around him fading, bounced up to his taller opponent and slapped him with his bubble-tipped tail.

"Ah- _zu." 'I win_.' And _that_ was absolutely a gloating tone.

Darren stepped inside the court. "You're down, Hypno. Unless you want that trip to the pokecenter?" Darren didn't sound mocking, and waited for an answer.

Hypno wasn't _that_ stubborn.

Azu happily bounced back to their side.

"Azu's good," Darren agreed. "Now Hypno, let's buy the recording of the fight and talk about why you lost." Hypno gave a grudging nod, his fur slick with sweat.

Just _good?_ Anabel could never order Azu to do all that.

"Yes, 'good'," Rosie said warmly, her arms hugging her and V. "Quick-study zeroes who set out in the early spring come home sixes in the winter. Azu's got an eight's stamina. Don't give up and you'll get there sooner than you think."

"It's already mid-July," Anabel muttered, but a relieved smile had bloomed on her lips.

They could do this. They just had to start training like real trainers.

"As your victory prize, we'll buy you the battle video and ice-creams outside. Deal?"

"Deal, Rosie. Thank you!"

Anabel was so glad they'd run into them. Even Darren seemed rather nice now.

But he didn't take them seriously...

She took a deep breath. She'd get _good_. She'd get good and show them.

"You should trade Azu for weaker pokemon," Darren said. "You can't fight zeroes and firsties with a pokemon like that. It's not fair to them. That kind of foul play can get you banned from battles for weeks. There's places you can go for good trades, kinds of pokemon-trainer speed dating. Azu'll be happy."

"We can't trade him." Mr. Cinders would kill them.

Darren sighed. "Is this azumarill even yours?"

"Azu!" The pokemon growled, his head bumping into Darren's stomach.

Rosie laughed. "Everyone's got their secrets, D. Hypno's training's what counts."

Darren's scowl made Anabel want to hide. " _Fine_ , Rabbit, I get it."

But she relaxed, smiling, when Darren extended his ice-cream to Azu.

Azu took an experimental lick and scrunched his face up. A shiver that ran all the way up his ears. The blue pokemon's eyes went to them and their ice-creams and narrowed.

"Azu-mah, azu." _'It's cold, you weirdoes.'_

V giggled and soon they all were laughing and letting Azu try out their ice-creams.

"We're camping at the Red Terrace, spot 16, until August 1st," Rosie said. "You can pop by anytime if you have something interesting for us, or just get into trouble."

Anabel grinned in relief. "Thanks." Trouble just kept following them.

"Azu?" Azu said hopefully, waddling back towards the battle-tents.

Anabel grinned. You'd think he'd been thrown around enough for one day.

She started when her vidphone rang. She scrambled for her belt.

"Dad! Hi. We just had the best battle. We won and they bought us icecream because they were happy!"

Dad's eyebrows shot up. "Wow, where were these people in my day? I'm calling because I'll be in Lavaridge next Tuesday, the 28th. How about you show me your pokemon and the farm then? We should have dinner in town."

Anabel's insides turned to rock. _The farm? Tuesday?_

V snatched the vidphone from her hands. "There's loads of people queuing, Max. We've got to go now if we don't want to be bumped back half an hour. See you on Tuesday, it'll be fun!"

V lost her tight smile after she'd ended the call.

This wasn't part of the plan.

"Ghosts, V," Anabel breathed, "what are we going to do?"

* * *

 **Chapter 14: "The Good, the Bad, and the Scary" will be up on Sunday.**


	14. The Good, the Bad, and the Scary

**CHAPTER 14: The Good, the Bad, and the Scary**

* * *

 **July 28st 341 - Tuesday**

Anabel lifted the last stack of the pokemix crates from the cart and shoved them in with the rest of the stock.

She was restocking the food shed on autopilot, her hands clammy and her throat dry. What if Dad found out about... _everything_?

She tried to calm herself. Mr. Cinders was the king of lies. He could help. But every time Anabel thought of telling him, an arbok wrapped itself around her neck. She and V _had_ noticed weird stuff. And if Dad… Anabel swallowed. Dad and Mr. Cinders could _never_ meet.

Anabel turned the now empty wheeled cart around with a groan. She had to hurry, or they'd never make it to the university in time.

Her knuckles tightened on the cart handle when the door to the food shed slammed open.

Lars, the new farm-hand, was a big man with a big nose and a deeper frown. He wasn't rude, but Anabel suspected he didn't like them all that much. He'd said he was twenty-three, but his beard made him look older than Mr. Cinders and he… he just made her nervous.

"Do you know how to adapt rations for juicing?" Lars asked, his shadow covering her completely. "The park's done, you're free until dinner."

He'd come just four days ago, and already he did everything _so_ fast.

"Juicing?" she said, trying to look more confident than she felt.

"Battling to get the right moves out of the pups," Lars said, scanning the big list of rations-per-pokemon nailed to the wall. "Mr. Cinders won't have to transfer so many now that I'll be there to direct Azu to do it."

The words were a Focus Punch to the gut. Anabel had to lean on the cart for balance. Mr. Cinders had transferred all these pokemon to get them _trained_?

"Why… why couldn't we do that? Mr. Cinders never said-"

Lars chuckled. "He's realistic about how much he can ask of pint-sized moppets. You've been pulling your weight alright. I can't say I'm not even a bit impressed, but there's tasks you've got to leave to the big boys."

Anabel looked away. _Kiddy_. It was there again. Like she was this cute, _useless_ , little thing. Jaw clenched, she left the food shed and pushed the cart back into the storage closet, her arm muscles taut.

"I'm done." V was washing her hands in the kitchen, both eevee at her feet. "That shiny muk will have enough space to breed without stinking everything up."

' _He lied, V,'_ Anabel wanted to shout. _'He keeps saying we did a good job, but he's lying. He didn't even bother to explain juicing.'_

But they had to go meet Dad at the university, so she said nothing.

Soon, with fresh clothes on her back, Eeveea in her pocket, her backpack over her shoulders, and Azu by their side, she was ready to go.

Anabel shuffled her feet by the farm's front desk. Something she couldn't explain was keeping her rooted in place.

"We've got everything," V said. "We both double-checked."

Anabel took a shaky breath.

' _Numel's really violent,'_ she _'_ d told Mom and Dad over the phone. _'She doesn't get along with Eeveea and tried to put my stuff on fire, so I had to free her.'_

' _Slugma was kind of stupid. V wants a better one. She's angry she wasted two weeks on him, but we're learning to spot which ones are good.'_

Lies upon lies, fed to her parents with ditto-staged pictures and fake smiles. Some days she knew she _had_ to, but today was a bad day. A guilt day.

Just three pokemon. Between the two of them. The eevee weren't even half-grown. They knew just one move each.

"Ann, what's wrong?"

"Just… You think you could convince Piloswine to come?"

V nodded after a pause, a smug smile digging into her cheeks. "She's clever. She's my friend now."

 _Greedy_ more like. V had started sneaking Piloswine frozen treats again as soon as the mom had come back to take care of baby swinub.

"We'll tell Dad you traded Poliwag for her." _Polywag_. Another pokemon borrowed from the farm. Another lie.

V nodded slowly. "So we've got no pokemon at the pokecenter?"

Anabel shook her head. Piloswine, for all that she looked like a brown mop with a big snout, had _five_ moves, mastering ice, earth and wind, and she was just... Anabel knew she'd have a pokemon like that by now, if that gengar hadn't ruined everything.

V raised her whistle to her lips and ran back to the park, blowing shrill summons. V had bought the whistle for Eeveevee, but Piloswine had realized that answering the whistle had a solid chance of earning her a snack.

Piloswine scuttled out of the half-melted igloo Anabel had built with V in the early morning (Mr. Cinders had the most awesome ice-maker), and blindly snout-sniffed her way to V. If not for the dull clip-clop of hooves, Anabel would have sworn that Piloswine was a floating ball of wool. A floating ball with _sharp_ ice-tusks. Which was why V threw the treats.

V crouched by Piloswine and cleared her throat. "I need you to pretend I'm your trainer, just for this afternoon. Like, follow me around, listen to what I say, and not disagree even if what I'm saying isn't true."

Snout-nostrils flaring, Piloswine tilted her head backwards towards V. Not that it made her eyes any more visible. Some pokemon were expressive. This one, no.

"You'll get many many treats for it," V added brightly.

"Pilo piloswine." _'One for each pokemon living here.'_

Anabel's eyes shot up. "No way," she exclaimed. "You'd bust your stomach. You'll be way full long before, anyway."

"Pih-lo." _'Then until I'm full.'_

"Okay, until you're full," Anabel agreed, "but you don't get to lie about it."

V cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowed at the pokemon. "Huh. Deal."

A thin ray of red energy sucked Piloswine in V's pokeball. Anabel released a breath she'd not noticed she was holding.

"Azumarill, azu?"

Anabel laughed. "Of course! You'll also get treats."

"I don't get how you do it," V muttered. "Pokespeech's still so fuzzy to me."

V looked envious, but Anabel relaxed when her best friend smiled and wrapped her fingers around her arm.

"So, as my pocket translator, you don't get to go more than ten feet away."

Anabel grinned. "I promise. Listen, we've got to hurry. We're going to be late."

They ran out of the farm, Azu bouncing right behind them.

The old ladies on the streets' benches, who'd looked at them so weird on their first days at the farm, now waved back with little smiles.

Half an hour's walk-run later, flushed and gasping for breath, they entered the red-brick buildings of Lavaridge University. A nice man led them to where Dad worked.

"Your new interns are here, Mr. Lila."

"Wh-." Dad whipped around and grinned broadly. "Hey! I was about to go find _you_."

To find them at the camping grounds they'd only ever slept one night. _So many lies._ Anabel's eyes misted over but it didn't matter because she was swallowed in an ursaring hug.

"Show us around, Dad?" she managed. "Azu won't touch anything."

Dad was thrilled to, and Anabel even almost understood what he meant about earthquakes, waves and modeling now that she could see the machines and all the posters with pictures and graphs on the walls.

They went to the nearby park, and let Eeveea and Eeveevee set for the first time their paws on unfamiliar grass. Immediately, Piloswine set out to coat grass and flowers with shimmering snow.

Anabel spotted a bench in the shade and ran to lay claim to it. She sighed happily as she sat down. Dad sighed even more loudly as he dropped down next to her, making her laugh.

Piloswine's Powder Snow really was the prettiest thing. Eeveevee was now following her around, bewitched.

Dad leaned back, his arms behind his head as he watched the pokemon. "Piloswine against Poliwag… That boy must've wanted a poliwag very badly."

Anabel held her breath, but Dad didn't press. He never did ask much about the pokemon. Today Anabel was glad he didn't care.

It also made her want to kick at the grass and scream.

Dad turned to her with a warm smile. "I saw the awesome pictures you sent of the water-park," He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Tell me about it."

That she could happily do. A grin lit her face at the memory of the giant slides she'd raced V on.

Eeveea eventually made a home for herself on Dad's lap. She stood tall on her hind feet and swiped his long hair with her paws. She growled whenever Dad tried to stop her.

Anabel stifled a laugh.

Dad abruptly intercepted the eevee's little paw and licked it.

Eeveea looked _so shocked._

Laughter burst from Anabel's lungs. Dad looked so proud of himself, and Anabel just couldn't stop laughing, tears filling her eyes as she drowned in conflicting emotions.

V's voice filled the air. "Eevee, Piloswine, no!"

 _Splash!_

Anabel bolted to her feet. _Ghosts, what -_

A soaking wet Eeveevee poked her nose out of the spring-water stream and V's panic changed into muffled laughter. Piloswine was standing where the water was shallowest, loving the break from the heat.

"Roll over in the water, you'll get cooler," Dad called.

Piloswine crashed on her side. Her hooves flailed as she tried to roll, but her hunched back wasn't having it. With a huffed grunt she pushed herself back upright and crashed on her _other_ side, wetting the last of her dry fur.

Anabel laughed. She screamed when Piloswine came to shake herself right by the bench, showering them with way more water than fur should ever be able to hold.

It was dinner time in a blink. _Too late to go to the farm_. Anabel tried to not look too relieved.

"You know, you're so much cleverer than I was at your age," Dad said as they lounged outside the restaurant, their stomachs bursting. "I filled my teams as fast as I could and did a badge rush, with nothing much in mind except being _the_ _best_. You… you're taking time to enjoy a new city. You take part in the summer festivities… Why you've almost learned a trade."

He said the last like a joke, winking because it had been _just_ an internship, only _a few_ afternoons every week…

Tears burst out of Anabel's eyes and she couldn't do it anymore. She clung onto Dad, Dad who was proud of a _lie_.

"She's just… you weren't happy when she left at first," V said softly. "She was scared you'd hate her."

 _Ghosts, V!_ Anabel's cheeks burned and she had no words for the conflicted feelings welling in her chest. She _was_ proud of their work at Mr. Cinders. She had learned _so much_ about pokemon. She _had_ enjoyed Lavaridge. She'd not been a mankey to _anyone_.

But if she told, Dad would take her home. He'd hate her and she'd not even have a chance to prove she could be a good trainer.

They said goodbye in front of Mt. Chimney's Grounds, where they'd said they'd been camping all this time.

"You can come home any time, even just for a weekend."

Anabel disentangled herself from their suspiciously long hug and chuckled. "I know."

"Not homesick enough to come home, yet?" He stuck his lower-lip out.

" _Da-ad_."

"Right, journey, see if I care." Chuckling, Dad gave them a final wave.

Anabel almost fainted from relief the second he turned around. She clucked her tongue. An oddly bitter taste lingered.

V was staring at Dad's retreating back.

"You're _jealous_?"

V rolled her eyes. "Ann, sometimes I want to hit you. _Yes_ , you clueless numel." Her lips twitched. "I'd not have met you if my dad had been good, though."

 _Oh_. Anabel shuffled her feet, an awkward smile nevertheless growing on her lips.

Azu nudged V's backpack. "Zuh?"

"He wants his treats," Anabel translated as V frowned at Azu's insistent pokes. "When we get home. It's late already. I don't want Mr. Cinders to get too angry because we missed dinner."

Azu's eyes widened, as if he'd just realized they'd gone behind Mr. Cinders' back. Anabel patted his head. "Lars can handle dinner, even without you. Didn't we have fun?"

"Zuh," the pokemon allowed. He shook himself. "Azumarill mahzu."

The bike? He was agreeing to ride on the back of a bike? Anabel grinned. "Awesome, we'll be much faster."

They pedaled as fast they could back to the farm. Anabel had never hated Lavaridge so much for being all slopes. For the last three weeks, the heat had been of the choking, sticky kind, with storms not big enough to suck the water out of the air. Anabel couldn't wait to shower and sleep. Her shirt was glued to her skin by the time they finally slipped back inside. At least the ride was pretty, with the moon so high and bright in the sky.

The farm was silent when they walked inside, careful not to be too loud.

An odd chime-not-there had Anabel freeze by the big reception counter.

V's silver eyes were huge. Anabel glanced around in alarm, but there was nothing.

Nothing, but V's dull pounding chimes. _Shock_. _Big_ shock, or Anabel wouldn't be sensing anything.

"What is it?" Anabel hissed. "Azu, come back here!"

"They think we stole Azu and Piloswine."

" _What_? Who? How -"

Slow, echoing, _cold_ words filled her mind. ~Hello, Anabel.~

The gengar! Anabel's hand darted protectively for Eeveea's pokeball.

That horrible, thieving–

Anabel swallowed. Had Jirachi heard her wishes and they'd get Torchic and Treecko back?

She swallowed again when the ghost appeared on the wooden counter, his red eyes swimming in stormy purple mist. Sudden cold bit into her skin and she struggled not to shudder.

"Wait," Anabel breathed, "you're _with_ Mr. Cinders?"

Azu stood as relaxed as always. He'd just jumped far enough to not feel the cold. Azu _knew_ that ghost?

This was a horrible joke, it had to be.

She edged closer to V. Her best friend was frowning at the ghost, but it was an excited frown, not the I-want-you-to-go-away-right-now frown that thief deserved.

~What do you want?~ Anabel thought-shouted.

She scowled when she got no answer.

"Come on, we're leaving," she decided. It was getting hard not to shout. "Free Piloswine, give them their treats, and we go, V."

Red eyes trapped hers. ~Master fears that you left to report them to the clones.~ The cold words snaked into her mind, intrusive, unwelcome. ~He wants you silenced.~

Something hot and unfair filled Anabel's lungs. " _No_! We did nothing wrong! Mr. Cinders knows that!" Her foot struck the wall opposite the counter, and she realized only then that she'd been backing away, her knuckles white around her backpack's straps. "I won't let you scare me, I won't! He's just here to ruin things, V, he –"

She spun round when the door they'd just come through slammed open.

A pale, muscled arm snaked around her chest. She gasped, forced on tiptoes, her back squashed against something hard.

A balding man with flushed skin stared down at her with a crazed look in his eyes.

Anabel couldn't move. This... _this_ was the gengar's master?

"Let's get to the bottom of this, eh?" The man's breath was warm on her cheeks.

She tried to tear herself away. She couldn't. He was holding her too tight.

The door behind the counter creaked.

Anabel tore her gaze from the man just in time to see V dash into the farm, her backpack abandoned on the floor.

She screamed and fell on her knees as the bad man shoved her to the ground only to grab her again, almost dislocating her arm.

"LAAAAARS!" he roared, dragging her forward.

Anabel gasped in pain as her knees scraped the floor.

The brute took another big step after V, yanking Anabel upright.

Azu's confused eyes met hers. Anabel stumbled forward, trapped by the man's hold on her arm. She had to scream, she _knew_ it, but her throat was stuck.

"Ow!" she managed. "Stop –"

The man's arm painfully collided with the back of her legs. The world flipped over.

Anabel's cry was cut short when something hard struck her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs.

"Shut up," he grunted.

He'd thrown her upside down over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes, his arms locking her legs against his chest.

"Let me –" Anabel's chin slammed against his hips, cutting her protests short.

She couldn't breathe. With every stride, the man's shoulder dug into her stomach. Her backpack slipped and fell of her as she flailed, beating uselessly against his back. _Let go! LET GO!_

The lights went out. Floor gave way to dark grass tinged with silver light. They were in the park. Anabel desperately tried to wriggle out, her fists punching his sides.

He gave her a violent shake. "Cut it out or I'm chopping your arms off."

Anabel's hands flew to her belt, her stomach muscles screaming. _Eeveea_. Anabel couldn't lose her.

A door slammed open. Light flooded her blurry vision. _A home?_

"You psychopath!" _Mr. Cinders!_ They had to be inside Mr. Cinders' house. "Put her down! You out of your mind?"

His anger unlocked Anabel's voice. "Put me down!" she screamed. "Put me -"

The world went purple. Her legs were free. The floor rushed for her head.

"Ah – ZUUUUUUU!"

Somehow, Anabel found herself gasping on the ground, limbs more or less intact, with no bad hands on her.

 _Where -._ Across the room, Lars was coughing and spluttering, crouched and soaked in front of Azu, and, _ghosts_ , Azu looked _furious_. Mr. Cinders just stared, eyes wide in – _V!_

V was _on top_ of the bad man, her hands clawing at his waist, she –

Anabel recoiled at the sizzle of biting energy. Purple light blinded her once more.

A scream –the _bad man's_ scream- filled Anabel's ears. _The ghost._ The gengar was attacking the bad man.

Anabel stumbled backwards, her hand desperately clutching Eeveea's pokeball _._ _The kitchen._ She was in the kitchen. There was a window.

She had to get out. She had to call Dad. She –

She tripped. Something – _a hand_!- had caught her foot.

Her thumb slammed the pokeball's button before she crashed on her hands and knees. _Oooow._

Light flashed. Lilac eyes locked with happy, then confused, innocent brown ones.

 _No, Eeveea, no! Get back in. Run!_ "Help," Anabel croaked, her chest heaving on the tiled floor as she tried to push herself back up.

"I said STOP MOVING!" Lars snapped. "Just calm -"

Anabel cried out when Eeveea flew across the kitchen, kicked in the ribs. Her fur had been shining silver, her tail sleek and cutting. The energy sizzled out of her little body the moment she hit the floor with a painful _thump_.

"Okay, Anabel. Just –"

Stuck in her fetal position, with nowhere to go, Anabel stared up at the bearded man, too petrified to hear the words spoken by his moving lips.

 _First Torchic, now Eeveea._

 _Not Eeveea. Please, not her eevee._

Sudden snarling had Anabel's head whip to the side.

It was like a blur. Eeveea was _bigger._ She reared to full height, swallowed in a mirage, her jaws open wide.

A rumbling growl thundered through the room. The sound crashed through Anabel's chest, jolting her upright. She had to get away!

Lars stumbled backwards. "Stop that!"

Azu had thrown Hypno across a whole arena, but Lars was standing _right here_ , and barely wet from Azu's attack. _It wasn't fair!_

Anabel snatched Eeveea up, hugging her tight with one arm while her other hand fumbled with the window handle.

Something tried to grab her. Anabel screamed, kicking back blindly at Lars. Suddenly, Lars wasn't there anymore. Anabel risked a look backwards, Eeveea still in her arms.

Lars was on the floor, one small –but huge- onix squashing his legs. Eww, the _smell_. A muk was almost on top of his face.

"Some men have a problem, you know, in their brains." Mr. Cinders' voice was a strangled half-shout. He looked like he was about to break everything.

Anabel flinched and jumped away from Mr. Cinders, and the fire slicing into her skin like scalding arrows.

But seeing him so upset, tasting fire and glass when she was already so distracted by her own panic, made her feel better. Mr. Cinders would protect them.

"Get off him," Mr. Cinders told the muk suffocating Lars.

Muk became a ditto and stared as Lars gasped for breath and lurched into as close to a seated position as ditto-onix would allow.

Anabel started when she realized she couldn't see V. She rushed back to the living room _,_ hugging Eeveea harder against her.

Anabel froze.

V, disheveled and scarily triumphant, was standing over the also ditto-squashed bad man. On her cheek was a _huge_ bruise that-

Anabel's eyes jumped back to the bad man. Was that _blood_? A horrible red stain was spreading across his ripped tank top.

V had a pokeball in her right hand. No, _masterball_. She put the purple-pink sphere on the ground and stepped on it with all her weight.

Anabel stared breathlessly as it shattered. A _masterball_. The kind that could catch any pokemon, except maybe the legendaries. Where had it come from?

Behind V, the gengar's fangs stretched into an impossible grin and, more terrifying still, V shot _him_ a small smile, as if he wasn't nightmarish mist and evil red eyes.

"You're free," V whispered, sweat running down her face. She took a shuddering breath and rushed towards Anabel.

A red-stained knife casually hanged from her left hand.

The knife clattered to the floor and V's arms wrapped around her and Eeveea. Anabel sucked in a breath, made dizzy by relief. But she couldn't look away from V's knife.

"You stabbed him, really?"

"Not deep. I had to or he'd have used his other pokemon."

"The ghost told you to stab him." Anabel just _knew_.

"Gengar told the ditto to attack, you know. They'd never have known we were in trouble if he hadn't gone to get them."

The ghost was gone. Vanished. There was only the bad man wheezing under the ditto-onix.

"Just a cut," Mr. Cinders told the bad man, pressing a tissue on his neck. "You paranoid primeape."

"You can't let them go," the bad man coughed. He hated them. Anabel had never met him and he hated her. "They –"

"Work for me," Mr. Cinders snapped. "They had nothing to tell before _you_ barged in here like a lunatic."

Eeveea tensed in her arms. Lars stumbled out of the kitchen, the darkest look on his face. Anabel's breath hitched.

"I wasn't going to hurt you," Lars grumbled. "Just needed you to _-_. What the fuck just happened?" Lars' eyes narrowed at the bad man, full nasty things he wasn't saying out loud.

"The ghost turned coat," Mr. Cinders said.

Lars paled. "Where's he gone?"

"Far away. He owes me and Ann, he said." V sounded so calm. She was almost smiling. "He promised he'll check on us, and if we say you didn't leave us completely alone, he'll scare you to _death_."

"Relax, girls, those two don't even know your last names. Come outside." Mr. Cinders turned to Lars. "You watch that fool. No letting him up until I'm back."

V was _already_ relaxed. Anabel had to carry Eeveea, so she couldn't shake her best friend, but, _ghosts_ , she wanted to!

She settled for a pointed glare when they were in Mr. Cinders' garden. V, that huge nasty bruise taking almost half her face, was almost _skipping_.

"He figured he'd get his way because he was big. We won, though. We're safe, Ann." A shaky smile lit up V's face, her eyes wide as if she couldn't quite believe it. "We're going to journey and he can't do anything about it."

V's mood was catching and nervous giggles tumbled out of Anabel's mouth, even as her bruised arms loudly told her to put Eeveea down.

 _Not happening._

They had to almost run to keep up with Mr. Cinders. Anabel's discomfort made anger really, really easy. Mr. Cinders was a poacher and she and V had worked for him. It made her sick.

"He stole Torchic and Treecko," she snarled. "We want them back, _Boss_."

There was nothing funny about Mr. Cinders' smile. "You're going to tell some kids who've had them for months now, who evolved them and love them, that those pokemon aren't theirs?"

Anabel missed a step.

Torchic. Her willful, prove-me-you-deserve-me Torchic.

Anabel couldn't breathe.

Torchic's memory shattered in her mind.

There was no more Torchic. He was gone. He was Combusken now, maybe even Blaziken. Maybe he had a totally different name.

She'd never get him back.

Soft growling jolted Anabel back to reality. Rumbling yaps rolled out of Eeveea's throat, teeth bared at Mr. Cinders.

"I've got no clue where they are," the man gruffly said. "I breed healthy pokemon, it's all I do."

"T's okay, Eevee," Anabel managed. It wasn't. It was so not okay.

She sniffed when V's soft fingers removed the tears from her cheeks. She tried to smile, hugging Eeveea close. Everything hurt. Her arms were the worst.

"Gengar's master got mad because of the dratini Mr. Cinders gave to someone else." _What?_ V shrugged. "Gengar said he gets paranoid when he's mad."

This was 'mad' alright. As in _insane_. "Does it hurt?" Anabel whispered. V wasn't supposed to get hurt like this, ever.

And Anabel had done _nothing_. Eeveea had saved her. Instead of sounding like she was gurgling toothpaste like in practice, her fluffy kit _Growled_. Valeria had saved them. Somehow, V had convinced that gengar to stop being evil. But Anabel? She'd just screamed and been a useless damsel in distress, and she didn't even get the stunning looks and castle to make up for _being so tragically useless_!

"Only a bit," V said. "He punched me. I didn't want to use the knife. I had no choice after the punch, though. I said I'd kill him, because Gengar said to say, but I didn't mean it. Just to scare him." V straightened, a stubborn glint in her eyes. "It _worked_."

"This… I'm real sorry, girls." In the darkness, Mr. Cinders looked like a tauros had sat on him and Anabel's anger ebbed away, just a little. "If I'd known, I'd not have given you the job."

Anabel's hold over Eeveea tightened. "Hey, it wasn't that bad..."

The eevee. Seeing pokemon hatch. Azu. Meeting proper trainers like Rosie and Darren.

"Sir, the job was great," V agreed. "It's your friends who stink."

"Ghosts, yes, you've got to change friends! You're… nice. You explain well and everything. You'll totally make new ones really quickly."

Mr. Cinders looked at her like she'd said the funniest thing ever. It was scary.

Anabel crossed her arms. She tried to look stern. "If... if some of those eggs are stolen, you... you should give them back. It's not right."

"You're right," Mr. Cinders agreed.

Anabel's shoulders slumped. _What did that answer even mean?_

They crossed the farm's grounds in silence and stepped inside. Anabel finally put Eeveea down to pick up her backpack. It hadn't moved. Slumped right there on the floor where the bad man had thrown her over his shoulder.

Anabel's muscles sang in relief, but Eeveea sat stiffly at her feet, ears high and alert, _guarding_ her. Because _Anabel_ was the weak one who needed protection.

Anabel wouldn't cry. She _wouldn't_.

V freed Piloswine, the pokeball pulsing white for a second longer as it broke the poke-link, making the Piloswine wild once more. V smiled, as if nothing was wrong and gave Piloswine the promised treats.

"I… I'd like to say goodbye to Azu," Anabel whispered as Piloswine gathered her prizes between her tusks and carried them away. "Weren't you scared?" She asked Mr. Cinders. He stood stiff, his jaw tight and square. "That we'd find out stuff? Tell on you?"

"What stuff?" he said softly.

Anabel glowered, even as a sliver of doubt entered her mind. He looked so serious.

"I got in trouble too, once. People need chances. Wanted to give you yours."

 _Oh._

"Do you need help, Sir?" V said. "Did they threaten you too?"

He chuckled, but his eyes weren't laughing. "What's done is done. This farm's my home. Couldn't do anything else. The pokemon don't get mistreated, not here, not after they leave, I promise that."

But he knew bad people! And _ow_ … Anabel's shoulder hurt _._ "You hurt _people_! The people you steal from. How can you not care?"

For a second, she thought Mr. Cinders might shout back. Instead, he just crossed his arms. "Hired you, didn't I?"

Anabel dropped her gaze to the floor, overrun by feeling she had no clue how to handle.

V broke the silence first. "What about the gengar? Who is he?"

"Don't know for sure. I spoke to grandpas who swore the beast was already in town when they were lads. Never had a trainer on the right side of the law. I won't miss him."

"Why can't a trainer make him good?"

Anabel shuddered. The ghost was just… _scary_. But V had to be annoyed to have him vanish like that again. She shuffled closer to V and her a shaky smile.

V's hand wrapped around hers and Anabel felt stronger.

"We're all better off with him gone. He's always belonged to the biggest bully. He… Rumors are he makes them worse…" Mr. Cinders' head jerked towards his house. "That man back there, he wasn't always that cracked in the head."

"Is he a criminal?" V whispered. "Would the Jennys arrest that gengar?"

Mr. Cinders had always seemed offbeat with his spiky red hair and his amused but careful smiles, but now his eyes were full of dark places.

"He'd be a goldmine to them for sure."

Anabel's eyebrows flew up when V stepped forward wrapped her arms around Mr. Cinders.

"I won't let anything make me evil," V said thickly, burying her face in the man's chest.

Mr. Cinders hugged her back. "I know you won't," he whispered. "You did good here."

His green eyes met Anabel's, his soft smile faltering.

Anabel couldn't hug a _poacher_.

It was an awkward pause, but then Mr. Cinders extended his hand, his lips twitching ruefully. Anabel shook it, her mind still reeling.

Ghosts, he was a _poacher_.

"You take the eevee. Go say goodbye to Foxy. Azu's coming. There's time, the other two won't be going anywhere until I say so."

Five minutes later, the kits were cuddling by the eevee who'd raised them. Soon, Eeveea had relaxed enough to accept to go in her pokeball.

Did Eeveevee know she'd missed something big? How would Eeveea explain it? How much had her little darling understood?

Anabel told Azu he was awesome, because it was so true. He showered them with water, poke-water, thin and tickly, and _cool_. It was almost as nice as a real shower and without the whole it-takes-ages-to-dry-without-a-towel deal.

"Stay safe," Mr. Cinders said, seeing them off on the road. "Don't go looking for trouble."

"Wait!" Anabel said before the man closed the door. "Can't we do anything? Against thieves?" None of this made it _fair_.

Mr. Cinder flinched. "Theft's rare, girls. It's tricky to steal a pokemon. Few people have enough money to get someone to take the risk. System's almost foolproof."

Anabel pulled a face.'Almost', _right_ _._

"It was bad luck, you did nothing wrong. Trust me."

V shook her head, a smile creeping on her lips. "Unlucky, with eevee, money… You also stay safe, Sir."

"Off with you. Get out of town. See the world. _Go_."

The two girls scampered off, jumping on their bicycles. They knew the neighborhood now. It wasn't so creepy now they'd gotten used to it. But it was _night_ and the dim street-lights filled everything with huge gloomy shadows.

They weren't halfway to the center of town when Anabel pressed hard on the brakes and put her foot down.

It was cold. A not-normal cold she now knew.

"I thought you'd gone," she whispered.

The ghost flashed white and vanished almost as soon as he'd appeared. Frowning, Anabel finally spotted the pokeball on the ground.

"It was always part of the plan," V said. She'd climbed off her bicycle, her eyes glued to the ball.

It moved by itself, shaking. Anabel held her breath. _Was it going to -_ It opened, without breaking or bursting, but just like V had opened it herself. Dark purple mist melted out of the shadows. Dark purple mist with red eyes.

Anabel shivered. He was creepily close to invisible.

"So you can just break out?" V's calm wasn't normal. Anabel wanted to shake her agin.

~Now that I am bound, not even a masterball can capture me.~

Anabel managed a weak smile, glad he was talking to her too. "So… you're going to go? Now that you made sure nobody can catch you, you're going…" her voice trailed off as the ghost's eyes burned into hers.

~ I am no pokemon of the wilds.~

A new, more violent, shiver ran up Anabel's spine. Did that mean he was going to stay with _them_?

She mustered her courage. "Do you know who has Torchic and Treecko?"

The ghost's mist-body twisted and shrunk, until he wasn't much bigger than her fist. He looked like a ball of floating purple fluff. Scary looking fluff with creepy red eyes.

V poked him. "You're solid," V muttered. _Poke, poke, poke._

Anabel stopped breathing until she was sure he wouldn't bite V's finger off. Even tiny, his red eyes shone bright.

"Torchic? Treecko?" Anabel hoarsely repeated.

~Middlemen handled the trade. I was never required to meet the clients.~

How could he not know! He stole and scared but he couldn't make things fair.

And the bad man had _screamed_. "Do you often hurt people like that? I mean, he was bad, and… yeah, but…"

~No. I usually intimidate. Humans become very reasonable when threatened with haunting.~

His voice swallowed them like winter wind, slow and biting. He liked that, _haunting_.

And he wanted to stay. Anabel tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry.

' _I won't let anything make me evil,'_ V had said. She'd better mean it.

Anabel's voice shook. "Torchic and Treecko, they're happy?" She had to know.

V squeezed her hand, her own eyes wide and pained.

~A stolen pokemon's loyalty is not easy to gain,~ the ghost said after a pause. ~Their humans must treat them well, or the money was wasted.~

Anabel let out a resigned sigh. Torchic was happy. _At least he was happy._

"We're going to Mt Chimney's Grounds?" V said, climbing back on her bike.

Anabel shook her head. "The Red Terrace. This is trouble, and Rosie and Darren said they'd help."

"You can't tell –"

"I know!" Anabel huffed. "I won't."

* * *

 **I hope the foreshadowing at the farm paid off in the end. Lavaridge is home to a poaching ring, and as you can see, things are a bit complicated for Mr. Cinders.**

 **As for our girls, this emotional day concludes the arc at the breeding farm. Next chapter "Strength in Numbers" will be from V's POV, and posted on Wednesday.**


	15. Strength in Numbers

**CHAPTER 15: Strength in Numbers**

* * *

It was well past 10 PM when they found The Red Terrace. The campsite was fancier than Mt Chimney's Grounds. There were more showers, more green spaces, and just more… space.

Valeria yearned for the day she'd be able to come to a place like this without worrying about the money. Without anybody looking at her and wondering if she could afford it.

 _She_ _wouldn't_ _be poor, never again._ If she hadn't found Ann, she'd have had to watch everyone go off on a Journey, forced to pretend she'd never wanted to go.

Her fingers curled tighter around Ann's arm. _No, never again._

Number 16 held three tents, each four yards across and hanging a foot off the ground, strapped to the nearest trees. A light was on in one of them. Two people were inside.

She and Ann shared relieved smiles when they recognized Nova's tall skinny frame against the tent's canvas.

~Are you coming?~

He was _there_ , listening. A brush of ice against the back of her mind.

Valeria took a slow breath. ~Should I be calling you 'Sir' or something?~

Mr. Cinders had said Gengar was older than anybody alive. He was _different_. He'd filled Valeria's mind with words as soon as that man had grabbed Ann, and everything had become easy.

The chill in Valeria's mind became whirling winds and pulsing echoes. She flinched despite herself.

~Milord sounds appropriate.~ His tone was oddly cautious. ~I will return before dawn.~

~No mischief, Milord?~ _Milord_. Where had he'd picked _that_ from? A book? Did he read? Valeria had so many questions.

~No.~ Gengar said. He hovered around her mind, hesitating. ~You have orders?~

Valeria huffed in disbelief. _Orders?_ The cold mist in her mind rippled, as if Gengar had something more to say.

The strange sensation was gone as soon as it had come.

"No, stay out of trouble," she muttered. This would take some getting used to.

"What did he say?" Ann whispered. Her eyes were wide in worry.

"He's just going out to explore while it's dark." Ann was smart. She'd see she didn't have to be scared of Gengar. "Let's not mention him."

Ann hugged herself. "We already have Azu to explain, and that 'wimpy zigzagoon' you told them I'd caught during that slakoth/slaking story, and now the ghost… What are we going to do?"

"People store their pokemon all the time, we'll say –"

"No. Stop lying. It's bad, V! I… I _can't_ handle another round of lies. I hate it!"

A shaky sigh left Valeria's lips. "Well… We can say we invented the zigzagoon because walking up to them with zero experience felt too lame. We can tell that Azu was lent to us, that Mr. Cinders is a family friend." They _had_ to lie a bit. The truth was too much trouble. "We'll say we didn't get along with our starters and sent them back to the Professor after we traded Mr. Cinders the shiny cacnea for the eevee, no fake details." Those lies _worked_. It was none of these people's business what had happened. "We'll say we don't want to talk about it because it feels like a failure."

Ann looked like she was going to cry. "Okay… If they tease us we'll just… leave. We'll go win the first badge and become good. _Really_ good. There won't be anything to tease us about later. We'll –"

Valeria wished the bad things would just _stop_. Ann's hands were warm. Valeria held them tight to stop them from shaking. "We have great eevee. We have money. We're ready to go. We're not in a bad place."

Mr. Cinders would take care of everything, Gengar was there to protect them, and Ann wasn't upset at her for the knife.

Ann slowly nodded. "We'll have to convince them… to give us a chance to show we're good."

"You two going to chat in front of our tent all night?" Rosie had poked her head out. She grinned at them. "Come in, kiddies. We'll cuddle."

"Must they call us kiddies?" Ann muttered.

Rosie's beautiful smile was not mean. "It's just a teenager thing."

A - Oo*oOo*oO

Nova's growlithe shared the tent with Rosie and Nova. Seeing the fire-dog put a tangela in Anabel's stomach.

Eeveea jumped into her arms as soon as she appeared. She yapped a warning, teeth bared, when she spotted the others.

Nova's and Rosie's eyebrows went up in question.

"She was scared when I balled her," Anabel said quickly. "I didn't want her to leave her alone."

She wished Eeveea and Eeveevee could share a pokeball. At least they'd be together.

"As long as the cutie sleeps on you and doesn't snore, I don't mind." Rosie's smile turned to horror.

V squinted as the flashlight on the ground was suddenly pointed straight at her.

V - Oo*oOo*oO

"Ghosts, were you attacked?" Rosie exclaimed. "What happened to your cheek?"

"A door," Valeria said. People had to stop saying _Ghosts_. It was rude."I needed to pee, badly, and I thought I was too clever to need lights."

Ann croaked out a chuckle, blushing like the bad liar she was. Rosie just shook her head, rubbing her own cheek. Valeria hadn't dared check in the mirror how ugly the bruise was. It didn't hurt too bad as long as she didn't move her mouth much.

"What trouble then?" Nova asked, moving stuff around in the tent so they could all lie down.

Ann met her eyes, Eeveea all but stuck to her chest.

Valeria felt a stab of conscience and also freed Eeveevee. She hoped that whatever the eevee told each other, it wouldn't be enough for the growlithe to tell on them. Ann understood pokemon way better than Valeria did, but what about Nova and Rosie?

"You've got two of them?" Nova whistled. "How much money –".

"We traded a shiny cacnea for them," Ann said, staring straight at Eeveea. She wasn't _too_ bad a liar. "They're our starters now, since ours hated each other and didn't want to evolve, and -"

"Your _starters_? You-" Rosie gawked like they'd fallen from space. "What happened to your actual starters? Pokemon trouble's normal, girls, didn't your school teach you anything?"

Ann stiffened, her eyes shimmering.

"The Professor told us to send them back," Valeria snapped.

Rosie's and Nova's eyebrows flew up. Valeria held her scowl. That story had been Mr. Cinders' idea and both Max and Ann's Grandma had bought it. It _could_ happen.

"Yikes, that's first grade bad luck," Nova exclaimed, smiling like she couldn't help finding it funny. "Starters tend to be chill."

Valeria huffed to hide her relief. " _'Tend to'_ … Anyway the eevee will make great pokemon. The breeder, he's a friend, lent us Azu so we could get battle ready." Rosie's lips pursed in disappointment and Valeria felt a bit bad. She cleared her throat. "Now we can go catch pokemon."

"So you _are_ zeroes." Nova's eyebrows were judging them.

"Yes," Ann said

Valeria wanted to kick Nova for the rawness in Ann's voice.

"If you want us to leave," Ann added tightly. "We can sleep elsewhere."

"That's not what Nova meant," Rosie said.

Nova rolled her eyes and Valeria wasn't sure she liked the blue-haired girl.

But Valeria wasn't sure she _didn't_ like her when Nova smiled at Eeveevee, who'd rolled over next to Ann and was now whisper-yapping to her sister.

"They've had a tough day, Growlithe. They'll be friendlier tomorrow," Ann said.

Nova's growlithe was awkwardly sitting back.

"Careful, he was here first," Nova warned, leaning back to pet her pokemon's thick fur.

The fur-flames looked even cooler than she remembered. Eevee would look brilliant with some of those.

Nova yawned and slunk back into her sleeping bag. "Better get changed. Don't make a habit of crashing our tent, eh?"

"How did the four of you end up travelling together?" Ann asked as they pulled out their own sleeping bags and started to get changed inside.

Rosie shuffled over so they could all be more comfortable. "In short: Darren's my cousin. He's one year older than me, fifteen. His best mate moved on to secondary after a two years Journey, but D's going career breeder. We've been travelling together for two years. I'm a coordinator."

Contests had more rules than Gym Battles: coordinators had to worry about how pokemon moves looked instead of just winning fair and square. No wonder Rosie was so stylish.

"She was third at this year's Grand Festival." Nova said, earning herself a dark glare for some reason. "It's pretty huge."

"It's brilliant," V agreed.

Rosie smiled a little and shook her head, as if anyone could do it.

"You can be a career coordinator?" Ann asked, her knees tucked under her chin and her eyes so very wide.

Rosie chuckled. "In theory. Coordinating is about combining moves creatively. The possibilities are infinite. You can go career if enough people want to see what you do. I make training videos. It's not just flashy moves. They tell stories. I -"

"Ask her again tomorrow," Nova cut in, "or we won't get a wink of sleep."

Valeria shot the tall girl a dark look. _This was interesting. Videos…_

"Right," Rosie said with a rueful smile. "Well, Seth and Nova are both set on getting every existing gym badge. They just came back from Sinnoh and they're from Rustboro too. We try to catch up when our paths cross. Seth's twelve, with an ego as big as Mount Chimney, but he's gifted enough to get away with it. We knew we had to become friends before he got famous and everyone flocked to him. Nova… Nova's always got some plan to try out, and she's not always so lucky..." Nova snorted and dug under the covers. "But she got lucky with Seth. He's sticking with her for good."

Valeria frowned. "He's your boyfriend?"

Nova gave her a incredulous look and started to snicker. "He's twelve. I'm thirteen. He's a whole head shorter than me and he's…He's got…" she gasped for breath. "He's _Seth_. We're great friends."

Ann looked sad. "You all were dumped by the people you set out with at ten?"

Valeria squeezed her hand. She'd never dump Ann.

"I went alone. Kind of." Nova said. "This girl I hated… I felt like I had to do it all better than her? She kept calling me 'oh look I caught this pokemon who's so much better than all yours'. So I had to one up her: 'Oh I bet you couldn't get this badge, and I just did.' She just… I rushed my badges and… eh, I _won._ " Nova's smug grin was almost threatening. "Then this guy… he talked me into doing a second year. I ended up _liking_ liking him... He got grossed out, the jerk. Then I was with this group of girls, but we fought…" Nova chuckled at Ann's face. "Believe it or not, I've loved this since the start, fights and bad times and all."

So it hadn't been easy for _any_ of them. The tent suddenly felt more cosy.

Rosie yawned. "We'll be going back to Rustboro by the North Road, through Fallarbor Town. We promised our families to spend a week with them. You know how you'll get winter classes starting in November, but once you turn thirteen, the law makes you go to class all year long? Ever heard of the Pokemon Trainer School of Rustboro?"

Valeria hadn't but Ann nodded. "There's a test to get in, you've got to have six badges at least. You get classes from September to February, the rest of the time you journey and stuff, even when you're a teenager, and you learn extra about pokemon and you'll work with them later."

How did Ann even know all these things?

"Rustboro has the easiest Gym." Ann's eyes were all wide and hopeful. "We'd love to travel with you to Rustboro."

"Ha, bet you would. Want some help to catch pokemon while you're at it?"

Valeria narrowed her eyes. Something about Nova made her feel defensive.

"We'd be very grateful," she therefore said, with a big smile despite her bruise _._ "Besides, you don't know, maybe we're a bit like Seth too and it'll be good to have us as friends."

Nova snickered and yawned again. "Sleep tight. We wake at dawn."

"Dawn… _dawn_?" Ann said, now wide-eyed. "Isn't that like six?"

"Five-thirty," Nova said with a cruel smile. "We take a nice long nap from 2 to 5 PM, and then we're up until 11PM or so. Pokemon hours, Zeroes."

"It's only hard the first two days," Rosie promised. "You'll get used to it fast." She winced once more at Valeria's face. "Just swear I won't have an Officer Jenny drag me out in my pajamas at four in the morning."

Ann blushed. Valeria just smiled again _. Ouch._ Maybe she did need medicine.

"Nah, we're not in _that_ kind of trouble."

"You didn't say what scared your eevee," Nova pointed out, smiling at the furballs still snuggling together against Ann.

"Long story," Valeria said. Should she invent relatives to Mr. Cinders who hated pokemon and had threatened to roast the eevee if he didn't take time off to visit his mother? It sounded solid to her, but she was pretty tired… "We seriously should sleep." Her yawn left place to another bright smile. _Ouch_. "Thanks for helping us out."

She thanked Rosie twice over when the girl got some cream out of her bag.

"Rub it well," Rosie warned, "or your cheek will swell and you'll wake up looking like a patrat. _Half_ a patrat."

Valeria winced and rubbed.

 **July 29** **th** **341 – Wednesday**

Anabel shifted in her sleeping bag and opened her eyes. _Ow, her shoulder._

V was curled up in a weird way. And she… _was crying?_

 _No, no no._ "V?" Anabel sleepily whispered, crawling up to her. V unexpectedly giggled.

Rosie shifted, but the older girls looked sound asleep.

V turned around, tears running down her cheeks. A smile quirked her lips, accompanied by a soft chorus of bells and chimes. Wait, _happy_ tears?

"We're doing this, Ann," she whispered through silent sobs. "We've got pokemon. We're safe, with good people, we… I just can't believe it. We did it."

Anabel put her hand on V's back, struggling with the awkwardness of the tent, sleeping bags, and keeping quiet.

"I'm just so relieved," V mouthed.

"You were right," Anabel admitted. "About the gh… I mean _Gengar_." He couldn't be 'the ghost' anymore, not if he stayed. "He chose to help us in the end. Is… is he less mysterious with you? Did he tell you stuff?"

V's shoulders kept shaking. "No, not really. He saved us from a crazy guy, though. That's got to count for something." She seemed to be laughing and trying not to cry all at once. "I'm fine, don't worry."

Anabel shuffled closer with her sleeping bag. V... V was the one who was calm. Except for that day when V had run away, Anabel had _never_ seen her cry. Oddly, seeing V upset made her feel... _better_. Tonight had been crazy. A confusing good-bad crazy, but that man had totally been evil and nothing about it had been _not_ scary. V had looked so calm. She'd... she'd defeated the bad man. But now V wasn't calm, and Anabel didn't feel like a coward for being scared anymore.

Being scared didn't mean she couldn't be brave too. She took a sharp breath. "I'll make our lives awesome, V, you just see."

* * *

 **Next chapter "Journey, Second Try" will be up on Sunday.**

 **Please drop in to say hello if you're reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**


	16. Journey, Second Try

**CHAPTER 16: Journey, Second Try**

* * *

There were _umbrellas_ attached to their backpacks.

Valeria twisted her hair twice to get it to hold on her head and let her neck breathe. Distracted by the older trainers' backpacks, she fumbled with her hair clamp. Her curls jumped back to their all-over-your-face default position.

Behind her, Nova laughed.

Valeria huffed and picked up her fallen clamp. Waking up at 5.30 _wasn't_ normal. She blinked, struggling to get rid of that strange awake-not-awake feeling clinging to her senses.

"Why umbrellas?" Ann said. Of course, _her_ hair fit in a ponytail.

"By the end of the day, you'll be able twist enough sweat out of your shirts to fill a water bottle. You'll be on your knees begging us for a pack-brella of your own." Nova's knowing smirk was just like the meowth's on her T-shirt.

A meowth that was sipping a cocktail on top of a pile of gold. Valeria couldn't decide if Nova was funny or a bit full of herself.

"But why do you need umbrellas when you've already got those?" Ann insisted.

 _Those_ were some kind of sun or rain protective gear attached to the four older trainers' bicycles. Transparent windscreens covered the front and a white canopy stretched above the saddle.

It looked... _advanced_. The most advanced gear she and Ann had were ponchos for the rain. They were _good_ ponchos, though.

"Routes are all nice and flat, kiddies," Nova said. "But routes don't go everywhere."

"So where are we going, guys?" Ann was ridiculously alert for the crack of dawn.

"There's been geodude sightings off Road 112," Seth said. "I know a guy who'd be happy to trade me a togepi if I get him two good graveler." He pushed his silver hair back with a headband. It was identical to Nova's orange one, except black. "So we go see if any of those pokemon are ready to break with their gang and take up the trainer life."

Valeria nodded. Togepi were definitely rarer than geodude, but evolving two geodude for one… Still, if it wasn't a good trade, Seth wouldn't be doing it.

"How do you know they're ready?" Ann said.

"If they come out to battle and it's not territory defense… That's how they ask." Seth kept fiddling with his badges, as if to compensate for the fact he barely looked older than them. "Most just want a power boost. I freed my weezing in April. He'd figured he was strong enough. He wanted to go home."

"Listen… Torchic, I- Well, before, I didn't really hear what pokemon were trying to say. But now, it's like… I can hear?" Ann blushed at her own question, and blushed harder when a yawn jumbled her words up even more.

"You learn to understand pokemon," Seth said. He looked _so_ puffed up. "It's glitchy and they won't be telling you about their childhoods or anything long and full of details, but for training and getting their moods, it's enough. Some are smarter and have more to say than others."

Ann had her notebook out again and Rosie was definitely laughing gently at her. Valeria's lips twitched.

Sudden cold burst between her ears. She froze. ~Find the hedge where the smaller tent ends. Ball me. No need to alarm you new friends.~

She shivered. Her lips bloomed into a smile. This cold meant protection. ~Yes, Milord.~

She circled their camping spot and crouched when a cool wave crashed against her ankles. Bright red eyes were staring up at her. Gengar was tiny again, a fist-sized purplish tornado.

He made her think of spy movies and mysteries _._ It was brilliant. ~What did you do?~

~I wandered.~

~There are nice sights around here,~ she agreed.

She stared at the pokeball for a long time after Gengar had been absorbed. Last night had been a whirlwind of orders, his voice keeping her focused and in control. She had so many questions, about him, his trainers, his history, and just about _everything_. Unfortunately, you couldn't just ask these things. He had to trust her first.

"We'll be going through Fallarbor and not Verdanturf. D has to capture a male skarmory," Rosie was saying.

Ann frowned. "Has to?"

"Didn't Rosie tell you we'd outgrown playtime?" Darren replied, slipping his backpack on. "My boss, Ms. Buzz, gave me a list of pokemon to catch, and a list of moves to teach them and pass on to the next generation."

"You can't catch any for yourself?" Ann asked.

"So you work at a breeding farm?" Valeria said at the same time.

"I got Hypno for myself. Ms. Buzz works for many farms," Darren said, "I'm one of her scouts. I've got to catch at least six good breeding pokemon out of the ten on the list. Skarmory's the eighth, and my quota is eight. I can't go above that."

Ann scribbled furiously in her notebook. "What happens if you don't catch enough?"

"I'd have to work harder at school, 'cause Ms. Buzz sure isn't going to keep a slacker as an apprentice." He didn't look worried. "Let's hit the road." He narrowed his eyes at Ann's notebook. "Quit it with that if you want to be taken seriously. Why aren't your bikes out?"

Ann all but dived into her backpack to get hers.

"It's going to be fine," Valeria whispered, earning herself a shaky smile.

"You bet, we're trainers now!"

Oo*oOo*oO

Riding the route was nicer than Anabel remembered. The road from Lavaridge gently sloped downwards, diving between the rocky hills and shielding them from the beating sun. The wind and morning cool took the edge off the summer's heat. Anabel drank in the scenery.

She laughed as their eevee stopped to watch swirling leaves, their pointy ears twitching. The kits' wide-eyed wonder made everything even more beautiful.

Anabel hoped Eeveea would just remember last night as an exciting battle.

They'd been riding for two hours with no breaks at all when Seth finally stopped.

"There," he announced.

Anabel stepped off her bike, wincing as her thigh muscles protested. But she'd die before she'd slow down the older kids. She squinted at the bushes and grass Seth was now pointing at. V looked just as confused.

"Oh," she finally exclaimed. "It's been stepped on!"

"You should be a Ranger," Nova teased.

Rosie lightly slapped the tall girl's arm. "Give them a break."

Anabel swallowed back her wounded pride and walked up to the squashed grass. Some branches had been broken, and that the stones on the ground formed random, not-natural mounds. It also looked like some had been thrown at the dead tree for some reason. She frowned. That dead tree still had roots everywhere and there were messy earth mouths. Had it been uprooted?

"So… a machop?" Anabel guessed. She was maybe bad at seeing the signs, but she'd paid attention in class, and in this area, the burly little machop were the most likely pokemon to go around lifting and throwing things.

"Wanna catch it?" Seth said. "Loads of males are eager for trainers because they're very competitive and the 3-to-1 gender ratio means the evolved ones get mates."

Rosie chuckled. "Thank you, Pokedex. Well, girls, you better start somewhere. Machop aren't too hard to evolve and a well-trained machoke trades at a premium, since the stress of the environment change triggers evolution."

Nova rolled her eyes. "Now who's being a pokedex?"

"I don't mind pokedexes," Anabel said. They were all so nice to help them.

Her cheeks grew warm when the others laughed.

"I'll catch one," she found herself saying.

And now Seth was watching. Ghosts, they _all_ were.

"Come on, Eeveea," Anabel announced, hoping she didn't sound too nervous. "Time to shine!"

They put their bicycles back into their backpacks and left the beaten-earth road.

Nova pressed a finger to her lips. "Not a word now. Lead the way."

Bushes and trees spread as far as they eye could see. It wasn't a forest yet, but it was denser and less sandy than on the other side of the volcano. Anabel walked-ran on her tiptoes, barely daring to breathe. Her head whipped to the slightest sound, her eyes wide and searching.

She grinned at Eeveea, proud to see her scouting light-footed alongside her.

 _Sh-crack!_ Anabel spun round and stared.

Eeveevee was stuck in a bush, shaking herself with disgruntled huffs.

Next to her, V winced, her hand on her mouth to hide her giggles. "We're hunting _machop_ , Princess. They're too big to be inside bushes."

The bush was half-torn apart by the time V managed pick her eevee up. Eeveevee's coat was a tangle of twigs and leaves.

"You thrashed that bush. It never stood a chance," V said proudly, setting Eeveevee on her shoulders and keeping her stable with one hand. Eeveevee yapped at her newfound height. "Look far now and tell me if you see any pokemon."

Seth was staring at V like he couldn't quite believe her, and the other three were struggling not to laugh at them.

Anabel squared her shoulders and gestured to V to keep looking. She'd show them. She'd catch the best machop.

"You're all evil…" Rosie whispered. It must have been five minutes.

"Aww, poor kiddies," Nova said. She burst out laughing.

Anabel reddened, her breath hitching nervously as Darren shook his head, a big grin on his face.

 _What- Why-_

"Don't listen to them just because they're bigger," Seth said. He looked disappointed. Anabel wanted to disappear. She wanted so badly to tell him she _hadn't_ had to return Torchic, that she wasn't- "You know this. I even _told_ you. Just… _think_."

But Anabel's mind was blank. All she could think about was that these were supposed to be nice trainers and why did they keep laughing? Why were they making fun of her and V?

Eeveevee was still on V's shoulders, a paw on top of V's head and, _Ghosts_ , V did not look like a proper trainer.

Seth sighed. "What did I say about males?"

"They… they want trainers to get strong."

His yellow eyes were drilling into hers.

"So why are you all stealthy?" Rosie mock-whispered sympathetically.

 _Oh right!_ "We _want_ all the machop to know we're coming!"

Nova clapped, still laughing. "You got it."

Anabel scowled at the tall girl. Tricking them was _not_ funny.

"Go stomp around," V said, lowering Eeveevee back to the ground and looking like teasing was nothing to her.

Anabel tried to do the same. "Come on," she told Eeveea, stomping off herself.

Eeveevee was pretty great at stomping, jumping around on all fours and looking all delighted at the puffs of duffs she raised. Eeveea looked more confused, but Anabel knew her graceful little one would be awesome in battle.

They heard it before they saw it.

 _Thud. Thud. Thud!_

Anabel's head snapped round, struggling to understand from where-

 _Thud! Thud! Thud!_

The ground shook from feet slammed down hard. It was running. _Towards them_. It was…

…big like a three year old. Anabel's eyes widened as the machop stopped to stare them down, fists clenched and face fierce, not caring _at all_ that it stood half her size.

Anabel sucked a deep breath and met Eeveea's eyes. She looked ready.

Except no, she _didn't_. Eeveea was panting, hard. She'd kept up with their bikes, allowing herself to be carried only when she couldn't push herself any further. They should have taken a break first, they should -

"Don't lose the advantage, Cutie," Rosie urged.

Anabel squared her shoulders and buried her nervousness deep down. _Cutie_. Nicer than 'Shorty' or 'Tiny', but the same. She wasn't here to pretend. She was a real trainer now.

The machop broke into a new run, flexing its big arm muscles.

 _No turning back now._

"Give it a growl, Eevee." _Ghosts,_ she'd whispered like a hoarse mudkip. She cleared her throat. "Growl!" she shouted.

Eeveea yapped, ears folding backwards. She leapt in front of the machop and once again, she seemed to grow a foot, energy sizzling down her fur. A rumbling growl of shocking strength burst out of her lungs, echoing against every rock and tree.

Anabel's heart skipped a beat. The sound didn't scare her like the first time, instead, she thought she might burst with pride.

The machop started in shock and tripped, stumbling to regain its balance.

 _Yeah!_ _This was what the Journey was about!_

She realized that Eeveea was waiting for her instructions. "Iron Tail, Eeveea, go fast!"

Machop were all about thowing things ten times their size around, and Eeveea barely reached its chest. But Eeveea had speed on her side, and she had _Anabel._

She'd let no wild pokemon out-think her.

Eeveea's fluffy tail thinned and sharpened into a silver blade. The machop raised its arm in defense, white light bubbling out of its skin, but it wasn't enough. Eeveea leapt forwards, twisting and slashing down with stunning violence. Machop was thrown back a full yard, and landed with a thunk, rolling on the rocky ground until he managed to stop.

The white light was gone as he stood up. _Karate Chop?_

"Again, but dodge if he's faster," Anabel called. She was starting to feel confident. She'd get that machop.

"So, it's male?" V whispered behind her.

"Doesn't matter," Nova said. "Wants a trainer."

"You bought a TM?" Seth accused. "Iron Tail's a good move, but you should have waited for your eevee to learn her own moves first."

Anabel whirred to face him, stung. "She learned it by herself! She was born on a breeding farm!"

"Guys," Rosie snapped, "zip it and let her concentrate before that machop pummels Eeveea."

Anabel spun back towards Eeveea just in time to see Machop, back upright, dodge and slam her down with the side of his open hand. Eeveea smashed against the ground and whimpered. Anabel flinched. Eeveea was so _small_. Machop was bigger, and all these muscles-

A growl rose from behind Anabel. Eeveevee wasn't happy.

 _Ghosts_. "Get up, Love! You're faster, get away and wait for it to charge you."

Anabel _couldn't_ lose. The others already thought she and V were worse than zeroes. Normal zeroes had loyal starters.

She couldn't fail Eeveea.

Eeveea fled, shaking the blow off, and yapped at the machop from ten feet away. The machop flexed its muscles threateningly, and broke into a sprint. White light spread from its fingers, climbing up its arms.

"Meet it head on with an Iron Tail." She _couldn't_ lose!

Eeveea stiffened, hesitating. Anabel's breath hitched. But then Eeveea bared her teeth and sprinted off her tail slicing down like a sword.

Machop didn't slow. His shining arms rose like a shield. Energy met energy in a flash of white and silver, and Anabel gasped as both pokemon were slammed backwards.

"That was great!" Anabel shouted. "Machop's tough, but don't let him fool you! You're better!"

Her heart clenched as Eeveea struggled to rise, her pointed ears quivering.

Did it hurt? Had Anabel asked for too much?

"Get up. You're strong, get up!" _Please._ This wasn't a good trainer voice. Why was her stupid voice breaking? She -

"Eeveevee," V said from behind her, "make that bruiser understand no one messes with family."

 _Wait-._ Anabel could only stare as Eeveevee sped off, teeth bared and shoulders squared.

A murky veil fell over Eeveevee and a storm of dust and grime shot from under the machop, swallowing him in a jail of sand.

Eeveea was up and ready to fight some more.

"Iron Tail as soon as the sand's gone," Anabel shouted, her hands shaking with excitement.

The storm abated, leaving Machop too stunned to dodge. It crashed to the ground, knocked off his feet by Eeveea's silver tail. She dashed away from him before he could take a swipe at her.

 _Awesome._

Snarling, Machop rolled back to a crouch, its arms sizzling with furious white energy.

Eeveevee wasn't graceful like Eeveea, but when she hit, it was with her whole body. She slammed against Machop's lower back, throwing him forward in a flash of reddish energy.

 _Wow_ , _Tackle._ Anabel laughed shakily. She'd been nervous about their training sessions, but it looked like they'd done it right after all.

Machop was lying on the ground, muscled body heaving as it let out shuddering breaths. It hadn't quite fainted, but something was different about its stance, and Anabel just _knew._

"Back up, girls," she called, her throat dry.

Adrenaline flushing her cheeks, she pulled a pokeball out. Seeing the two fox-like kits standing together, proud and alert, next to the fallen machop, was like a dream come true.

V's small smile tore away the last of her nervousness. "Go for it, Ann."

 _Ghosts!_ Anabel almost cursed when she somehow dropped the pokeball.

"Your mom's not around, let it out," Nova said, _and why did she have to tease all the time?_ "You can step closer to Machop."

No Anabel couldn't. Not with everyone watching like that. She _knew_ how to aim.

A deep breath later, Anabel was confident enough about her ability to hit the stunned pokemon still struggling to get up less than two yards away. She chuckled, exhilaration mixed with disbelief, when the red-and-white sphere remained on the ground.

She blinked, expecting it to explode, for the machop to come out.

But it didn't.

It was hers.

Grinning, she freed the machop once more.

Machop gave one big shudder. Its red eyes glaring daggers at Anabel. It slowly sat up and crossed its arms. "Chop?"

Four pairs of human eyes stared down at her.

Anabel's victory… it hadn't been hers alone.

She'd screwed up.

V - Oo*oOo*oO

Valeria rolled her eyes at Machop. "Even _wild_ pokemon are such stickler for rules?"

Nova looked amused. Seth, Darren, and even Rosie, though, were glaring arms-crossed.

"Eeveea would've gotten up in time, you know," Ann whispered. "I could have won this by myself."

Valeria's face fell. Ann looked _upset_. But- . The eevee were a team!"Ann –"

"You think Machop will still respect me, Seth?" Ann asked.

"Do _you_ think it will?" Seth said. "It'll notice if _you_ don't trust yourself."

"I… I… I think I'll convince it."

"You _think_?"

"I will, Seth! I promise."

Valeria edged back, a mechanical smile slapped on her face because Eeveevee looked so proud.

"Vee! Vee!"

Anabel was still talking to Seth about Machop, her hand resting on Eeveea's head, and her back still to Valeria.

It hurt. She was suddenly tempted to get away. To free Gengar, maybe.

Instead, Valeria opened her bag and found the necklace with big plastic flowers that spun with the wind.

A small laugh broke Valeria's lips when Eeveevee started running in circles, her fluffy head all twisted so she could look at the spinning flowers.

A long thin shadow appeared behind her. Nova was watching with a smile that was maybe nice, but maybe teasing.

It wasn't Nova that Valeria wanted.

How dare Anabel ignore _Eeveevee_. Valeria had always partied for Eeveea's new moves.

Nova chuckled. "The problem with the three there, it's that they're good without really trying. They don't have to think too hard, because training, coordinating, whatever, they just succeed."

Valeria swallowed, her teeth grinding together when she remembered that Ann had found her crying. A strangling weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Things were going well, _finally_.

Or so she'd thought.

"Are you male?" Ann asked Machop.

Her eagerness made Valeria smile, but at the same time, her stomach twisted. Ann wasn't looking at her at all.

Machop nodded. He sat down cross-legged, rubbing his neck and stomach, but he wasn't so put out anymore. He was kind of cute, in an odd flat-faced, super-muscled-toddler with gray skin, kind of way.

"Should… should I give you a name?" Ann cleared her throat. "Do you have one already?"

Machop just stared and Seth shook his head. "He doesn't care. Few pokemon do. Name him if you want."

Ann furrowed her brow, thoughts whirring behind her eyes. "Machop's good," she finally decided. Valeria didn't like the slump to her shoulders.

"Don't ever do that during a duel with a trainer, you'll get in big trouble," Seth warned, as if they'd done this to offend him. "Your eevee need to learn to fight on their own."

Ann looked down. "It won't happen again."

 _Ann had nothing to feel guilty about!_ Valeria took a shaky breath, her arms crossed tight around her chest. There were so manyrules to remember, about everything, but Seth couldn't tell her that she wasn't allowed to help Ann out. _It wasn't right!_

She had Gengar now, she'd not let anyone bully her or Ann.

Ann was mad at her, though. Ann wouldn't even look at her. Ann didn't get mad, not like this.

Everything was wrong.

"Quick attack," Seth announced. "We're going to get your eevee to learn Quick Attack since she's favoring speed over power. With three moves, she'll be able to fight on her own. Machop can learn Revenge. It's a retaliation move that throws back damage at the opponent when you get hit."

"Chop." Machop sounded happy with it.

"Thanks, we should let Machop and Eeveea rest and start training them when we'll take our evening break," Ann said with a smile that was for everyone _except_ Valeria. "I don't want to slow you down too much. I am really grateful for all the help."

Even Darren smiled back.

"You'd better be," Seth said, shooting Valeria a sharp glance. "The rules aren't there to annoy people. You _must_ have loyal pokemon stronger than the ones you catch, or you'll get hurt. New pokemon can be dangerous. Did you lie on your TL test?"

Ann looked down again and something twisted in Valeria's chest.

"I'm not a random stranger who'll leave Ann to train him all alone with Eeveea," she snapped. "Eeveevee'll help! They're a team! They're stronger for it!"

Seth rolled his eyes and it hit her like a slap. "You can play-fight two-vs-one all you want later, but they won't become battle ready if you don't teach them properly. Catch a pokemon, Valeria, build your team. You'll end the year twos if you waste even more time fooling around."

 _Waste -_

"Seth, don't worry." Ann's voice stole Valeria's furious comeback. "We'll do it right and listen to you." A bright smile lit Ann's face as she put Machop's ball in her belt. "And one day it'll be our turn to help beginner trainers and make sure mentorship and other great values live on."

Now Ann sounded like Mr. C.

"You're the ones who chose to trade a shiny for two unprepared cute-balls instead of a more battle-ready pokemon…" Seth smiled at Eeveea. "She did good. You should ball her. Pokemon get exhausted like people do and training will take longer if she's using up all her energy running around."

It was less than a minute before a net of red energy swallowed Eeveea into the pokeball.

Valeria tightened her hold on Eeveevee. They didn't ask her to ball her, though. She breathed out in relief.

"First times are emotional, you did do good, Cutie," Rosie said as Ann stiffly took her bike back out.

"Don't call me that," Anabel snapped.

 _Whoa, Ann -_

"It's just… I _know_ I'm short and little, can you just please not-"

Ann relaxed at Rosie's warm smile. "No worries, I won't say it again. I didn't mean it like that."

Rosie turned to Valeria and winked from behind her red cat-eye glasses. "I wish I had someone who had my back like that at ten. Given time and effort, anyone can become a five. Making great friends, though, that's harder."

Valeria blinked. It was like all the bad feelings had been sucked away by Rosie's approval.

She didn't quite dare hug Rosie. She wanted to, though.

Ann grumbled something, but a grin won that fight. "I know. That was an awesome tackle."

But then the smile faded and became all wrong and forced.

Valeria couldn't have Ann mad at her. "I'm sorry, Ann. I should've let you catch Machop alone."

"It's okay." Ann turned to the others. "What pokemon do you all have, except Growlithe and Hypno? When do you free them?"

Valeria flinched. It definitely _wasn't_ okay. She'd have to make it up to Ann, somehow.

"Midday and evenings. Lapras is great to fight the heat." Nova eyed them with an almost-scary smile, as if hesitating to tell them a secret. "Just don't forget to ask her to go soft of she'll blast you to Unova." Okay, scary. "My last are Sunny and Snuggles." Nova's grin was all too smug. "Cacturne."

"Two of them?" Ann said instead of _'you called your_ cacturne _Snuggles and Sunny?'_

"They're bros. I went to sleep with my new balled cacnea, all confident and proud of myself, and in the middle of the night, Snuggles almost murdered me."

"Grim death by cacnea," Seth teased. "It would have made the headlines."

"They're sweet, you'll see." Nova's giggle wasn't reassuring.

"Parasect is sweet for real," Seth said, "Queen's still with me, Dodrio and… yeah."

Valeria frowned. She wasn't sure _what_ she'd been expecting from Seth, still -

Seth tugged at his scarf, badges glinting. "Parasect knows nine moves and counting," he snapped. "You'll learn people who go on the most about species are idiots who are blind to potential and can't look past the pokedex."

 _Whoa, cool off._ Valeria hadn't said _anything_.

"I don't do bulk presentations," Rosie intervened. "Each of them deserves a proper introduction. Be patient."

Nova opened her mouth. Darren silenced her with a strange glare. "Rosie likes to make a show and so do her pokemon," he stated. His voice lost all softness. "You'll see Lucky at lunch. We've got a schedule, _move_."

Ann jumped on her bicycle. "You're going to catch more, to fill your teams?"

Valeria's eyes crinkled. There were a thousand questions still dancing on Ann's face, and she never got too scared to ask.

"Got to take care of them, give them time. I've got no time for six."

"I win here, with five," Rosie's smile was sun to Darren's stone. Valeria decided she was going to ride next to _her_. "They steal your heart once you've had them a while, but there's nothing more magical than the trust-building phase."

Seth snorted. "I don't want love. Better pokemon with a goal. Those who want to power train and then go on with their lives. My team's set. Any newcomer would spend months being the weakest… If what they want is to fit in and find a new family… It'd wouldn't be fair to them. I'm hard to impress." He shrugged. "Experience does that. But a pokemon's miserable if it feels it's not good enough."

Valeria clenched her jaw. Seth had to think everything was so _easy_. He'd probably grown up in a nice house with no troubles at all, and had all the time in the world to learn everything about everything. He'd thought Ann had bought a _TM_ for Eeveea. As if they had the poke to spare. Maybe he'd even had a Journey-tutor like all those rich kids who'd then act all superior to those who'd never had the chance _._

She took a deep breath. Seth _did_ have twenty-four badges. You didn't get that without earning them. But, catch, he was irritating!

"Eh, I decide on the spot," Nova said as they all rode off. Rosie and Darren rolled their eyes. Nova just smirked. "Spontaneity. Value it."

* * *

 **There we have it, a journey back on track, and a machop for Ann's team. How do you like Rosie, Darren, Seth and Nova?**

 **Next chapter "On the Road" will be up on Thursday.**


	17. On The Road

**CHAPTER 17: On the Road**

* * *

 **July 31st 341 – Friday**

It was all silent. And somehow it wasn't at all.

They'd settled fifty yards off the route for lunch. It wasn't the wilderness, not even close, and yet Anabel felt watched.

It wasn't scary. It was thrilling. Any pokemon watching her wanted a trainer. Like some kind of hide-and-seek except you could win a special friend for life. Anabel searched her surroundings, her ears wide open.

Behind her, bushes rustled. Anabel turned and glimpsed a gray shadow. Another machop.

Her fingers curled around Machop's pokeball. He'd eaten his fill and had wanted a nap, but he'd not get annoyed to be woken for a fight.

Anabel wouldn't be so nervous this time.

Seth's voice made her freeze. "What are you doing?"

"Um, catching?" _Wasn't that good?_ "Machop will like having a friend. I… I'll…One of them can be V's…"

V was quiet these days. She seemed confused about what pokemon she wanted.

Seth crossed his arms. "How long have you had Machop?"

"Uh, two days," Ann said in a tiny voice. What had she done wrong?

"Get to know him first. Give Eeveea a chance to get along with him. Your pokemon will stay strangers if you just catch and catch and catch and don't stop to think about what you're doing." Anabel swallowed and shoved Machop's pokeball back in her beltpouch. "You want your pokemon's respect and hard work. Why would they give it to you if you collect them like shiny toys?"

 _Right_. "I'm not catching a second machop," Anabel agreed, hating how stupid she felt.

Seth nodded, his eyes still stern. The shadow in the bushes had fled.

Anabel ducked her head. "Thanks for keeping me from upsetting Machop."

"You've just started," Seth granted. He smiled a little. "It's normal."

She'd impress him. She'd show him she deserved his help.

She walked back to V. V was sitting with Rosie, watching coordinating videos with wide impressed eyes while Rosie cheerfully commented.

 _Why watch when you could battle with your own pokemon?_

"V, do you think Torchic and Treecko were being jealous?"

"What?"

"When they chased wild pokemon away, instead of helping us catch them? I think… I think it was their way of telling us we had to spend time getting to know them before we got new pokemon."

Guilt tightened Anabel's heart. Their starters had just wanted attention, and proof they mattered.

Anabel had to give Machop heaps of attention. And also good training advice, or he'd think Seth was his trainer and Anabel just… an assistant or something.

And that thought was like an eevee trying to crawl down Anabel's throat.

She'd make her pokemon _proud_.

"I think Eeveevee's jealous that she can't spend time with Eeveea anymore. I don't see why they can't battle as a team."

V's sharp tone had Anabel stiffen. "Machop's _my_ team. It'll be the same when you catch a pokemon. And the Eevee are together every evening for hours, it's heaps of time."

Seth was training them, there was so much to learn and Anabel wanted to get _good_. They couldn't fool around. _What if they met bad guys again?_ V's fading bruise was a Focus Punch in the stomach every time Anabel looked at her best friend. Gengar had turned out… well not nice exactly, but helpful at least. If he hadn't…

"Why?" V protested. "Why must our teams be separate?"

"But I _am_ letting Eeveevee battle Machop!" Anabel frowned when something sharpened in the air.

Something that was coming straight from V. V was _scared_?

Anabel swallowed. "I… I don't want them to think me so weak I can't catch my own pokemon. I would've won the fight against Machop, you know. I was doing good."

"I know that! Eeveevee just wanted to be part of it."

 _Oh_. "You mean –"

"Girls, Lucky's going to show your eevee some stamina exercises!"

Anabel spun round. Seth was going to let them train with _his_ pokemon? She grinned at him. It had to mean he didn't think they were hopeless anymore.

"Go, go, go," Rosie said shooing V with a smile.

Anabel grasped V's hand and rushed to him.

V took a deep breath. _Why was the air around her made of spikes?_

"Don't be nervous," Anabel said. "You're doing great too! You just need to choose what pokemon you want to catch next. There's so many around here that can't wait to get a trainer like you!"

Oo*oOo*oO

Behind them, Mount Chimney cut a menacing figure in the arid landscape. The evening light made it darker, and its shadow impossibly long. Anabel's eyes kept darting towards the dark volcano, waiting for the cloud of ash to flash orange and thick lava to run down its sides.

It _wouldn't_ happen, but she couldn't help staring and holding her breath.

"Can you see it, Dad? We just turned North on Route 111. Seth wants two geodude and V will soon catch a pokemon." Anabel turned the vidphone towards the cooking corner they'd set up. "That's Rosie and Darren working hard over there with Hypno. Say hello to my parents!"

The teenagers both raised their hands in greeting.

"I'm proud of you, it's not easy to go off the beaten path and make it work," Mom said with a smile, and Anabel glowed.

"How long do you think to stay with these trainers? I'm happy you're travelling with older people, sharing experiences is half the fun, I'm told."

"Only a few weeks, Mom. They'll be going back to their families soon." Anabel gave a shy smile at her parents' twin expectant looks. She did miss them, but there was so much to do, and she and V were just starting.

Behind her, V blew her parents a kiss. Gengar was still a secret, but V had made her swear not to tell, saying that the ghost was _her_ _s_ to deal with.

"Hi there, V." Mom's eyes widened. "Ann, did you slap her in the face?"

Anabel flushed. The bruise was _almost_ gone. "I did not! It was -"

"So, Ann's been telling us all about this _Seth_ ," Dad called through the screen with a stern glare. "Tell me you're watching him, V."

Anabel had said no such thing. " _Dad_!"

"I'll catch a ghost and make sure Seth gets haunted if he tries anything," V deadpanned. She had no shame. "Nah, they're okay, Max. I hope they don't get bored with us."

Anabel flinched _._ _Bored?_ _Had V noticed something she hadn't?_ She had to make sure to train even harder then.

"You make them feel useful and good," Mom said. "Don't underestimate the value of that." She pressed her lips to the screen. " _Schmack_ ," she said, kissing it loudly. "Call Merle if you get pokemon problems. If he says he's too busy, I'll be the one haunting his hindquarters. And don't forget to put on sunscreen!"

Anabel grinned. "Love you, call you before next week."

She elbowed V when the call was over. "I'll tell them about Gengar, and then you'll see."

V's smile vanished. "That's not funny, Ann."

"Sorry, I –"

"I know. Just, please don't."

Anabel promised. Then she frowned. Maybe there _was_ something she could do to thank the guys.

"Hey, guys," she said, rounding them up. "My uncle, Merle, he studies wild pokemon populations. He did load of genetics and right now he's looking at how freed 2nd or 3rd evolution pokemon fit in the wild populations when it comes to babies. Because of TMs and stuff." Frowns creased their foreheads. She wasn't explaining well. "Anyway, he knows stuff, and we owe you one. He'd not mind answering questions."

A spike of glass shot from V. Anabel frowned.

Nova looked hopeful. "I'm game for any shortcuts to super-powered wild types."

"I do have questions," Darren said, eyeing Anabel with renewed interest. "Does he work with fossils at all? My aerodactyl's getting frisky." Darren had an _aerodactyl_? "I thought he wanted to breed, but he wants to go free. Devon Corps would kill me."

"Why can't you free him?"

"Screws up the ecosystem. They're fossils. Not meant to be here. I want to know if there's something I can do to make aerodactyl happier."

"I'll ask Uncle, but why didn't you tell us about him before?" _Devon Corps_. _Could Mr. Cinders have been working for them?_ A shiver ran up her spine. _What if he'd stolen the eggs from them instead?_

"Because I knew you'd bug me with questions."

"Because every time Darren frees him, there's a risk Aerodactly might fly away for good," Seth said.

 _Oh_. Anabel gave him a grateful smile for explaining.

"Then he'd have to call the Rangers," Seth continued. "Aerodactyl's still obedient for now, but –" Darren shoved him. Seth almost fell over. " _Dude_!"

"Butt out of my business. If I want to talk, I'll talk."

Anabel bit her lip and turned to V, who looked alright, but Anabel knew she hadn't imagined that fear before.

"What's wrong?" she whispered. "You got all tense when I mentioned Merle."

"Psychic," V muttered, her silver eyes accusing. "It's nothing."

 _Ghosts, what –_

"Take that back!"

Anabel turned just in time to see Seth launch himself at a laughing Darren.

Darren got Seth in a headlock in less than three seconds. He was so much bigger and stronger than Seth that he didn't even look like he was trying.

"Get off me!" Seth snapped, his ears red. "Fight it out like a man."

Darren barked another laugh and let him go with one last shove. "Nova, your little brother's acting up."

"He does that," Nova replied fishing a pokeball out of her belt. "Lapras?"

"Rosie, help me shut them up." Seth caught Anabel's gaze. "You two, watch and learn."

Soon, Anabel and V were sitting with the eevee on their laps and Machop next to them, gaping.

It wasn't a battle. It was a show. Darren's lucario Lucky had paired up with Nova's lapras. Rosie's blaziken and Seth's dodrio squared off against them, confidence and experience rolling off them in waves.

Anabel hugged Eeveea close, not wanting her to miss this. Seth was right, Eeveevee got tired more quickly and improved less than Eeveea, but Anabel couldn't help a twinge of envy when she saw Eeveevee happily bouncing around V all day.

Blaziken –Rosie called him Wisp- was the most painful to watch. He was what Torchic should have become. Anabel couldn't tear her eyes off him. Wisp didn't fight, he _danced_ , and now Anabel knew why the rainbow-haired Rosie had won so many contests. Every step, every turn was graceful and swift. There were no explosions, no rough masses of energy swelling up and slamming down the enemy. There were blades of fire and floating flames that gathered into perfect spheres and then plunged down with perfect aim. There were things Anabel had no names for, and could only admire.

She hadn't meant to take a side, but she couldn't help it. She had to cheer for Wisp. He was so stunning and intense, even when he finally yielded to Lapras' brutish water attacks.

Nova's lapras was Power with a P. The immense, long-necked turtle barely bothered to move, leaving the strategy to Lucky, Darren's lucario, as she blew her way through her opponents with massive jets of water.

Lucky was _fast_ , crazily so. It's like he read his opponents' thoughts. Anabel's eyes teared just from trying to follow. He didn't hit very hard, like he was teasing instead of fighting to win, his bark echoing in the evening air.

"Temper, Dodrio, don't get Lucky get to you," Seth called. "Jump."

Seth had just said 'jump' and Dodrio clawed and pecked his way through Lucky's defense as if he'd swallowed a whole manual.

 _How did Dodrio know what moves to use?_

 _They were so good._ Machop was drooling and the Eevee had stars in their eyes. The fighting pokemon even feinted and missed on purpose just to keep the show going.

Better yet, those pokemon were friends.

"Ann," Seth said. "Your turn."

Anabel slowly shut her gaping mouth. She hadn't even realized they'd finished.

"No pressure," Nova added with a snicker.

"No matter how fun, training can't be play time," Seth began. He'd make a great professor with that patient 'I know better than you but you'll learn' voice. "Pokemon master new moves when they know they can't afford to lose. Wild pokemon would be much stronger if it was just about using moves over and over again. So either you fan some healthy competition between your pokemon, or you go out looking for danger and hope it's enough." A scowl fell over Seth's face. "Sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn't _when you're in big trouble_ , so don't fool around."

 _If Eeveea hadn't growled…_ Anabel shuddered despite the heat. They _had_ to get stronger.

"I'm not going to punish Eeveevee if she doesn't fight 'well enough' to stress moves out of her," V warned.

Anabel shook her head. That wasn't what Seth had said. "Eeveea," she said, crouching. "We've seen that trouble can happen and… Machop will die lonely and shunned if he doesn't put on muscle. And you…" she turned to Machop. "How far are you prepared to go to put on more muscle?"

" _Maah_ ," the pokemon grunted. His glare was so dark that Anabel was suddenly scared for Eeveea. There was some real motivation there.

"Love, Machop, really, _really_ , takes this seriously, and to grow big and strong, you should too." Anabel smiled, scratching her little one behind the ears. "Ready for today's practice?"

"Vee!" ' _Totally_ _.'_

Anabel grinned.

"Eeveevee, how about we watch," V said, sitting down comfortably and offering Anabel thumbs up. But invisible glass blades still surrounded her. They had to talk about this.

But a smile crinkled V's eyes. "Kill it, coach,' she told Anabel.

Anabel grinned back before giving Seth her undivided attention. She hoped to see Eeveea learn Quick Attack by the end of the evening. Already, Eeveea fought more confidently, and her tail seemed sleeker and sharper, not a hair out of place, when she wielded it like an iron blade.

Seth's pleased expression was worth a thousand As at school.

"Maaah!" Machop protested a minute later.

He'd raised his arms to strike Eeveea down with a powerful chopping gesture, but Anabel had ordered him to grab the rock next to him. Eeveea had slammed into him before he'd had a chance to attempt his Rock Throw.

So now he was annoyed.

"Maaaah, yourself," Anabel shot back. "I told you you'd be throwing rocks."

She stiffened when Machop turned to Seth. _She_ was Machop's trainer.

Seth just raised his eyebrows at Machop, forcing him to turn back to her. Anabel's heart swelled in gratitude.

"Ma-chop, chop, machop. Chop, machop." 'I would've hit, but you made me change my attack.'

"I order, you _obey,"_ Anabel said, keeping her voice firm without shouting like Seth had taught her. "You'd have hit, but you're going to get more powerful faster by practicing Rock Throw. You have to trust me. You get stronger even when you lose, Machop."

"MAAAAAH!" the muscled toddler protested.

 _Was he seriously trying to throw a tantrum?_

He was just too funny. "WAAAAAAH," Anabel shouted back, rushing for him with her arms wide open.

Machop stared in shock, turned around, and started to run.

He was strong, but not really fast. "WAAAAAAH," Anabel kept shouting until she grabbed him from behind and wrapped him in a hug. He was _heavy_. She laughed. "Stop squirming and give me a hug."

"Mah?"

"Wrap your arms around me, gently," Anabel explained, "it means we'll learn to be friends and trust each other."

Machop didn't know hugs. Anabel had to change that.

V had taken her vidphone out and was snapping pictures. Seth's shoulders were shaking with silent laughter, but he looked pleased, not teasing.

Anabel loved this.

Eeveea rushed into her arms as soon as she'd let go of Machop, snuggling aggressively against her.

"Don't worry, I know you were there first," Anabel whispered. "You're cuter anyway, but don't tell Machop."

She put Eeveea down only when her baby got tired of the hug. "Alright, back to it!"

Shouts interrupted their lesson all too soon.

"What –" Nova hissed, whistling for Growlithe. The pokemon's flames fur-cut rippled in the wind.

"Pokemon, stand by your trainers," Darren said, pausing on Machop to make clear he wasn't joking.

A boy with longish dark-purple hair and a shocking lack of shoes was riding at breakneck speed towards them.

"Ghost, there's a ghost!" He was gasping for breath as he jumped off his bicycle. "I found it juggling with our stuff. It tied all our socks and shoes to the trees, the thinnest branches. We can't reach them."

Anabel's mouth opened in horror. _No._

V was biting her cheeks. Anabel glared.

"As long as it's not your underwear." V had the gall to _giggle_.

Anabel flushed. _Gengar_. Ghosts were all kinds of trouble.

"Don't you have any flying pokemon?" Nova said.

"I specialize in fire types," the guy admitted. He was pretty big, but he couldn't be too much older than them. "I came around here for a torkoal." He gave them a remarkably effective puppy look. "Could I pretty please borrow one of your flying types?"

"What? No charizard yet?"

The guy glared and then smiled weakly when he realized Seth was joking.

Anabel also smiled, relieved. Seth was one thing, but she wasn't ready to deal with a ten-year-old owning one of the most powerful dragon types.

She let the older guys deal with the boy and his friend. She and V had to talk.

"Listen, V…"

V wasn't even _pretending_ to feel guilty. "He can hide easily here with all the mountains and shadows. He's happy to be allowed to come and go freely, Ann. He's not my prisoner. As long as he doesn't hurt anyone, he should be having some fun too."

Anabel narrowed her eyes. "All their socks and _shoes_ , in a tree." It was _not_ funny. She'd hate it happening to her.

"It's ghost humor," V said with a rueful shrug.

That was _no_ excuse. "V! If you can't control him –"

"I'm not letting him hurt people or wreck their things." V quickly said, squaring her jaw. "It's just a bit of mischief. I… I'll talk to him."

V had better not be in over her head. Gengar gave Anabel the shivers, and not just because of that three-yard aura of cold that followed him everywhere. He'd done bad stuff, no matter how badly Anabel wanted to believe a good trainer could change all that.

She bit her lip when Seth came back with a scowl on his face. "The ghost's an effing _gengar_. We tried to lock it into a fight but it slipped away."

Anabel froze. _Gengar had almost gotten caught?_

"There shouldn't be any around here! There's laws about this crap."

"What laws?" V quickly said.

Oh, _now_ V cared.

"Ghosts, especially _those_ ghosts, have serious boundary issues." Seth shook his head with a groan. "You can't just drop one near a town or on a road where some people have just… an _eevee_ ," he said, pointing at the way too serene looking Eeveevee, "for protection! That thing's a menace."

"It's not a _thing_ ," Valeria snapped. "They'd be nicer if people didn't treat them like pests."

"People would be nicer if they weren't pests who fed on fear," Seth shot back. "We'll need to keep watch. I dare it to get anywhere near us."

"We should capture it," Nova said. "Ghosts spice up things."

Anabel shot V an alarmed look. _They had to tell. They had to_.

"I'll talk to him," V whispered. "Don't worry."

"Hey," Rosie said, walking up to V and putting an arm around her shoulders. "You'd not be the first to find ghosts cool, but they're a pain to train. They can be scary smart and it's hard to make them care about normal things. That's why they're so often out of control. Training ghosts takes experience."

"I'm listening," V said, her silver eyes glinting with curiosity.

Anabel really hoped V was. For the hundredth time, she wondered if she shouldn't secretly call Grandma, or Uncle Merle, before trouble became real. But she didn't want to betray her best friend.

"For one," Rosie began, "ghosts aren't good at showing they care, so you need to be confident and not let that hurt you. Two, you need to be _very_ clear about the rules you set them. What's good isn't obvious to them, at all."

And _that_ was the part that really scared Anabel.

* * *

 **Next chapter, "A Ghost Issue" will hopefully be up this weekend. I'm very busy with work, so it might take a little longer.**

 **Thanks for reading^^.**


	18. A Ghost Issue

**CHAPTER 18: A Ghost Issue**

* * *

The clouds burned red as the sun sank closer to the horizon. The evening light softened the harsh rocky hills and gave a healthier glow to the scattered arid bushes. The only flat thing was the route they'd just left behind.

Valeria pushed on her knees to climb higher on the steep hill. In one hour, when dinner'd have settled in their stomachs, they'd be hitting the road again. The barren landscape was stirring awake. Smaller pokemon scurrying between the rocks sometimes caught her eye.

Sudden chill took the edge off the heat. Valeria's eyes swept the shadows. From their camp below, none of the others should be able to see Gengar.

The dark purple mist settled next to her folded legs, red eyes questioning rather than guilty. ~Have you told them?~

~No, Milord,~ Valeria said.

"That prank was funny," she allowed, preferring to whisper than to talk-think. Agreement echoed in the chill of her mind, and she had to smile at the smirk creeping on Gengar's face. "You should try for fun that doesn't get you into people's things, though. Like leaving messages with rocks or something? If it's fear you want… well, it'll be scary, but not mean."

~We can,~ Gengar agreed after a pause. _We, we, we –_ the word echoed in her mind, as if he wasn't sure what to do with it. He spun towards the bushes.

Eeveevee burst out of nowhere and let herself fall flat on her belly next to them, her eyes fixed on the sunset. She yapped a hello at Gengar. Valeria's heart swelled at her casual friendliness.

Gengar's eyes had narrowed.

Valeria laughed at his bewildered expression. ~You're one of us, Milord. She's got no reason to be scared.~ She dug her fingers into Eeveevee's soft fur. It felt like family.

Gengar floated from rock to rock, his colors half-swallowed by the shadows. He poked at stones, assessing them, snatching a sharp one, then a second.

Twenty yards lower down, Rosie and Darren sat together around the folding table, chatting. Nova was speaking with her siblings on the vidphone, and laughing at Growlithe's and Eeveea's mock battling antics.

Mama texted good morning and good night every day, but she called only once a week. Doctor Kim's orders. Saying Mama had to learn to leave Valeria space. Mama sounded happy, though.

Valeria wondered if things would ever become normal and simple.

Also below her, Seth and Ann sat on a rock, shrouded in sunlight. Still talking about pokemon. Ann had her notebook out and her perfect-student expression. Valeria's shoulders stiffened.

Ann hadn't heard, what Darren had said to get Seth to try to punch him. _'Use your own life to impress your girlfriends.'_

 _Girlfriends_. Plural. Just a tease. Even Max had picked it up, though.

' _Tell me you're watching him, V.'_

What if Ann decided she liked Seth best? Seth who knew so much more and was so helpful. He wasn't cute, not with those pikachu cheeks and-… not that it mattered. Ann didn't even notice that he was bossy and irritating.

Mama had been Valeria's best friend. Until Gene.

Ann had cared about exploring, but not about _battling_. Not until Seth.

Valeria dug her heels in the grass, hating the chill seeping in her bones.

Ann was _good_. Ann was _happy_ to wake up super early, to never stop to catch a breath, and train every day. Her lilac eyes shone all through the battles.

Valeria's fingers dug harder into Eeveevee's fur. It was getting longer. Beneath it were hard muscles where there had just been puppy fat. Eeveevee didn't even look at her, so entranced as she was by the burning clouds.

Eeveevee didn't understand why she couldn't battle alongside Eeveea. Why her sister had to be balled so many hours a day.

How long until she started hating Valeria for it?

' _V, we can have fun later.'_ Ann had looked angry. _'What if the bad people break their promise and want to hurt us? What if they steal our eevee and we can't get them back? We must get good and Seth knows best. Please.'_

' _We have Gengar! They can't lock him up in a masterball this time!'_

' _He's yours, not mine. We don't even know if he's any good, except for stealing.'_

Ann wanted to feel safe. Valeria understood that better than anyone. So she trained hard too and kept her mouth shut, even if it hurt. _'We'll have fun later,'_ Ann had said. But it wasn't just _'have fun'_. It was being best friends! Being a family! It _mattered_!

Valeria had said she didn't like the pokemon on this Route. Seth had given her a whole lesson about trainers making pokemon great and how only dumb people expected to catch a perfect pokemon, but they couldn't make her. She didn't want a Machop.

 _Look at him, all about the fighting._

She didn't want Ann to think everything was fine. _It wasn't!_

' _Your eevee packs a punch,'_ Seth had said, his eyes narrowed at Eeveevee like he was a computer uploading data on every pokemon around. _'She's slower than Eeveea, but that Tackle's a great start.'_

 _Eeveevee means it_ , Valeria would have said if she'd dared. For Eeveea it was a thrilling game –and now the only time she spent with Ann except for nights-, for Eeveevee, it was a game only if her sister was there, otherwise, she tried to get the fights over with quickly, so she could get back to interesting things, such as chasing dust-devils.

What if Seth told Ann that Valeria wasn't good enough?

The chill returned and two red eyes appeared under the nearest big rock. ~Of them all, you fear the most.~

 _Great_. "I… I didn't think Ann would be so serious about training."

~Your friend, you doubt her loyalty?~

Valeria flinched. "No."

She hadn't doubted Mama's either, though. _Until Gene_. Gene wasn't bad. Like Seth, he was helpful. He made Mama laugh. He'd given her a proper house.

Ann's sudden laughter brought a faint smile on Valeria's lips. Seth's pearly grin was infectious too.

Still, the fear wouldn't leave.

"You're staying with me for good, Milord?"

~You ask me what I want.~ His words were laced with wonder, a warmth in the chilly echo.

"That's _normal_. You were with slimeballs, before."

~You break the law for me.~

 _Yeah, that._ The law was too tough, though. Gengar had been in a _masterball_ and a click away from being stuck in a computer.

Still, she did feel a little smug now. ~I'll protect you, Milord.~

Something light rippled through the cold in her mind –was he laughing at her?-.

Gengar floated closer, his red eyes wider than usual as he looked up at her. Close to fifty spiky stones tumbled at her feet. ~How do you write 'sorry'? A fearsome 'sorry'?~

Valeria swallowed back a laugh as she scribbled on a piece of paper, making sure to make it _spiky_. ~There you go, write it big.~

From misty-purple, dulled in the twilight, Gengar became shadow, and warmth rushed back in. ~Company.~

Rosie had left the camp table was climbing up to her. "Want to discover the world's best music?" She waved the small speaker in her hand. "The others just don't understand."

Her beautiful smile faded out Valeria's stormy thoughts and she smiled, getting up to find a spot of flat ground big enough for two.

~Of the others, her fear is most powerful.~

What? _Rosie_?

Valeria's ankle slipped.

"Watch it!" Rosie caught her, her laughter warm. "And don't make too much of it," she said with a knowing glance at Ann and Seth. "She's living her trainer's honeymoon phase. We all had to figure ourselves out when we started. It makes us a bit selfish and obsessed."

Valeria stared. That's all this was?

Her lips twitched. This time, Seth was the one laughing, his silver hair glinting in the sunset.

"Listen to this magic," Rosie said eagerly, wrapping an arm around Valeria's shoulders as they sat down. "And if you don't like it, lie and pretend."

Valeria giggled and gave a solemn nod.

Ann had Seth, but Valeria had Rosie, and Rosie was brilliant.

 **August 1st 341 – Saturday**

They had their backpacks on their shoulders and a foot already on the pedal when the boys Gengar had pranked came back. With shoes and socks on.

"That gengar," the boy who'd asked them for help said, "it wrote a zillion times 'sorry' all around the camp in this scare-you-dead font, with rocks, sticks and..."

Valeria put on her best innocent expression. Ann winked at her, her lips twitching conspiratorially, and Valeria felt a surge of pride.

 _See, problem solved._

"… _bones_. There was blood on them. I think it killed a pokemon."

Valeria's heart stopped. _No._

"That's not…" Rosie began, and Valeria found herself hiding behind her because the _look_ in Ann's eyes. _Was that why Gengar wasn't back yet? But, catch! he couldn't have!_ "Ghosts don't have hunting instincts."

"It must've found a corpse," Darren agreed. "Mrs. Buzz's brother breeds ghosts. I've spent time in his farm. For all those little monsters put you through, they don't kill. They go dig up corpses, though. Freaks people out."

Nova snorted. "No kidding!"

"So it's _safe_." V flinched when she realized she'd shouted. _Catch_.

"I guess…" the boy said. "I figured that ghost must be someone's. Just wanted you to know."

"Thanks for the tip," Darren said, now frowning.

"It makes sense it'd have a trainer," Rosie said. "More than a wild gengar does. I hope that whoever it is, they're going in the other direction."

"So for you it's not bad," Ann challenged. "Scaring with _bloody_ _bones_ as long as you don't kill pokemon?"

"You'd rather he ate pokemon, like so many predators?" Nova said with a shrug. She had this smirk. She still looked grossed out, though. "Persian kill for fun. Doesn't make them any less cool."

"So what if there's worse? It was still _bad_! There's pokemix special for predators."

Valeria blinked. She'd not even _thought_ to feed Gengar.

"Not for ghosts," Darren said. "Berries keep them from weakening, but… a ghost breeding farm isn't like most. It's more a lab: ghosts don't breed in the wilds. You breed them with machines." He chuckled. "There's this hazing thing, at the lab. They blindfold interns and leave them in the ghost farm without telling them where they are. Some piss their pants for real, - _I_ didn't,- but it's hilarious once it's all over."

Ann clearly didn't think so, and Valeria wasn't so sure herself, but suddenly, she was mad.

"You think you're better than Gengar because you eat meat from _killed_ miltank, krabby or magikarp while he just scares people? Predator pokemix isn't made from vegetables. Nobody got hurt! Those guys have a brilliant story to tell now."

"He didn't have to use _bones_ ," Ann snapped, leaving Valeria to stare at her back as she stormed off on her bike.

"Let her be." Valeria swallowed as Rosie's hand squeezed her shoulder. "Wait until she's calm and you can continue the conversation later." Valeria's vision began to blur. "Aw, _V_ ," Rosie chuckled. "Everybody disagrees sometimes, it's no big deal. You're still best friends."

Valeria smiled back weakly. It _was_ a big deal, because Gengar was hers.

She waited, though, and she didn't bring it up until they paused for lunch.

Seth and Nova made to follow her and Ann, but Rosie tugged the two back with a pointed glare. Valeria wished she knew what to do to thank the rainbow-haired girl. Rosie just… never seemed to need anything.

It was feeling small and unprepared that she sat on the rock Ann had chosen.

"If I free him, he might go back to criminals." V whispered. "You want me to store him in a computer, and pretend he never existed?" Ann kept staring at the ground. "He didn't hurt them!"

"I _know_."

Valeria shuffled closer to Ann, now cautiously curious. Ann didn't sound mad for real anymore.

"If he does hurt somebody and it's on purpose, you'll store him? You won't make excuses?" Ann said, a deep frown creasing her face. "You said you wouldn't let him make you evil. What he did before you caught him weren't just _pranks_ , V. How is it wrong to think _bones_ shouldn't be used in pranks?" She took a sharp breath and Valeria felt terrible. "He didn't _have_ to use them. He knows people think it's wrong and disgusting to use bones, and that's why he did it."

Ann took her hand, her face inches from hers. "I'll stop being scared of him, I'll try my best, but you promise that you won't let him do anything to anyone that you wouldn't be too mad at, if a ghost did it to _me_. You promise?"

Valeria had to look away from those purple eyes.

"Does he care, V? It's okay to get it wrong, sometimes, but does he even _care_?"

 _Yes_. Valeria wanted to say it, to say it out loud and _believe_ it. She wanted to say she'd seen something good behind the cold, the red eyes. She wanted so badly to be _sure_.

"I _think_ so," she admitted. "I'll get him to talk more. If he doesn't listen, I'll… I'll free him-"

Ann glared. "And let a criminal get him?"

"I'll store him for a while, then! If he hurts people after that, I'll tell the Jennys. I promise." She swallowed. "Ann, honestly, even with bones, I wouldn't too mad if he'd done it to us. Unless you were super upset, but it… I… _I_ told him to do that, not with the bones, of course," she hurriedly said, "but…"

A strangled sound escaped Ann's throat. " _You_ told him? That's your way of telling Gengar to apologize?"

"He was with evil people all the time, he's got to learn! He's a ghost, I can't tell him to give it all up! I thought that 'sorry' was… good?"

Ann face-palmed and groaned, but a smile tugged at her lips. "Could've been worse…"

~Indeed.~

They gasped at one. Valeria balled her fists, scared of Ann's reaction.

She searched the surroundings. Shadows were small with the sun beating down strong. She finally spotted a shimmer in one of them.

Ann looked ready to strangle him. " _You_ –"

"Explain," Valeria cut in. One of her favorite books had aliens, and the whole plot was about misunderstandings. Gengar wasn't human, she couldn't forget that. "What do you want, Milord?"

" _Milord_?" Ann hissed.

~I am trying to understand what _you_ want, cub.~

"You don't have to spy, just talk to me."

~I am tired. Please, recall me.~

Valeria clenched her jaw. It was right there in the 'please', the proof that Gengar understood people well enough. That he was being difficult on purpose. She opened her backpack to grab the portable toilet and went to hide behind a rock. A few seconds later Gengar stared up at her, red eyes glinting.

"I can't make you trust me," Valeria said, swallowing back rising frustration. "You've got to choose it."

He said nothing, he just stared.

Valeria's hold on the pokeball tightened and she pressed the center-button. Gengar vanished in a flash of red energy

"Milord?" Ann repeated, eyes-wide. "You can't call him-." She took a sharp breath. "Listen, just… just make him be good."

"I _want to_." Valeria pressed the button to make the portable toilet take its normal size. "Go away, they're going to think it's super strange if you stay to watch me pee."

Ann huffed and ran back to the others, leaving Valeria to ponder deep questions on the toilet seat.


	19. Cloudy Honeymoon

**Ch 19: Cloudy Honeymoon**

 **Sorry for the delay. I've been working crazy hours. Happy reading^^.**

* * *

"We'll be cutting off the road, taking a shortcut to Route 113. It's geodude-zone out there and they travel in gangs, so stay close," Seth warned, his eyes on the map. "Don't worry; we've got the pokemon power to handle any kind of trouble."

"Unless we say run," Nova said, "then you _run_."

Anabel gave them an uncertain smile. Nova sounded dead serious. At least half a dozen machop had come close after they'd caught Machop, and they'd only stayed back because Nova had freed Lapras, who on top of being just _huge,_ would send jets of water wider than them in their direction if they failed to get a hint.

 _Could geodude cause landslides and earthquakes?_ Anabel had to double check.

"When will we start looking for your skarmory?" she asked Darren.

"Within a day, when we'll reach the steeper side of these arid rock-lands. Skarmory are thieves. They also kidnap pokemon. I'll need a volunteer to use as bait."

Anabel laughed. He'd put his scary face on, but he _had_ to be joking.

"Do they harm the kidnapped?" V had a funny look on her face. "If they just keep them…" She turned to Eeveevee. "Getting grasped in metal claws and made to fly into a high, high nest close to the skies, scary or fun? We'll rescue you, don't worry."

Anabel stared when Eeveevee rose on her hind legs, enthusiastically pawing at V like it was her birthday come early.

 _Mad._ Her best friend was _mad._

V picked Eeveevee up and gave Darren a cocky little smile. "There you go. Happy to be useful."

Darren's face broke into a rare grin. "Ladies, we're doing this. It'll gain us some precious time."

Hind legs on V's shoulders, front paws on the top of V's head, Eeveevee searched the skies, her eyes huge. How V kept a straight face, Anabel had no clue. Except... Anabel held her breath. Silent chimes tickled her ears. V... V was _happy_. She didn't show it much, like she didn't show the bad feelings, that so confusing fear, that shot out of her at the oddest times. But this, this was _good_.

Rosie raised her fist to the skies with a shout half-laughter, half war-cry. "With a sentry like that, we'll get _all_ the skarmory!"

Seth was chuckling too.

On impulse, Anabel grabbed Eeveea's pokeball. _Eeveea had to keep her strength, to train._ But the space around Anabel was empty, and there was no laughter in the red-and-white sphere.

V turned to her and smiled so brightly Anabel froze, scared to see it vanish. Laughter built in her own chest, running down her legs and making her bounce. For a beautiful moment, nothing was complicated anymore.

A white-brown shadow followed by a crashing weight, twisted Anabel's laughter into a gasp.

She stumbled. Eeveea was still fluff, but now she was fluff hardened by training-acquired muscles. Anabel spat out fur when a paw slipped into her mouth.

"Eevee! What-"

"Veh!"

Eeveea had somehow ended up on her shoulders. Unfortunately Anabel was on the ground. _Ghosts, she had like a fistful of dirt in her ear._ Eeveea stared up at Eeveevee, miffed by the height difference, and her failed climbing attempt.

"Get real, Eevee," Nova teased, "even in heels, Anabel won't be looking down on anyone anytime soon."

Anabel flushed even if she knew she was supposed to just smile and laugh like the others.

"Which is why you really should climb on Nova." V's smile had an edge. "You both should."

Anabel didn't need V's hand to stand back up. She took it with a grin.

Her grin broadened as Nova found herself the target of two over-excited, sprinting eevee.

Oo*oOo*oO

 _Unknown number_. Anabel gulped when a Ranger uniform appeared on the vidphone's screen. "Hello, Ma'am," she nervously greeted.

"Good morning. You have no badges and are in the wilds," the woman said crisply. "Could you confirm that you are travelling with experienced trainers?"

Anabel shoved the vidphone to Seth. "It's Rangers!"

"Ranger, yes? Yes, we're with them," Seth said, rattling off his license number. "Of course not, at earliest we'll separate in Fallarbor, but we're thinking Rustboro. Yes, Ma'am. We'll protect them."

Anabel blushed hard. They weren't _that_ helpless.

Seth handed the vidphone back after answering a few more questions. "Rules are serious business," he pointed out, not quite staring at V who didn't _quite_ roll her eyes at him.

Anabel really hoped they'd become friends. It had just been a few days but… It was all Gengar's fault, for worrying and distracting V.

The ground had gone too rough and uneven to ride on soon after they'd left the paved route, so they'd packed their bicycles in their bags. Eeveevee and Eeveea ran thirty yards in front of them, two brown and white spots among the increasingly steep and sharp rocks. Anabel scoured the skies for any sign of skarmory, those sharp-toothed cranes made of silver and red metal plates.

They'd spotted four geodude, solitary ones, but the rock-types had hid upon seeing them. Anabel would've totally fled upon seeing Blaziken and Nidoqueen too.

Still, her eyes swept every rock heavier than 35 pounds, searching for the one who'd have a face and two arms with disproportionate fists.

An idea popped in her head. "Can V and I go farther off? Then she can catch a geodude!"

She grinned when Seth nodded. She grabbed V's hand and dragged her off, running to the closest bunch of rocks.

"Look, there, it's a great hideout."

"I don't want a geodude."

Anabel stopped dead in her run. "V, come on, you can't say no to _everything_. It's getting embarrassing to have to defend you when Seth's right about you needing a second pokemon."

V just blinked, but it changed her face and Anabel stepped back, wishing the words had never left her mouth.

"I embarrass you. You… you didn't even _want_ to journey! You… your house, and your parents, and… I thought we wanted to be free, Ann! Not -" V looked like she was going to cry. "You… you should get it!"

It was like the geodude was inside her throat. Anabel's voice wouldn't come. Not that there were any words that wanted out. Valeria hadn't shouted, but she might as well have screamed. _What? Get what?_

V turned away and ran, ran back towards the four who shook their heads and teased when V crossed her arms and said geodude were dumb. But V didn't care about the teasing, she never did.

Anabel blinked back stinging tears. _What was V's problem?_ Eeveevee wasn't as strong as Eeveea, but V had _chosen_ to keep her free. V took a lot of breaks too, but Seth didn't stop her even if he'd said it'd slow V's progress, and - .

Valeria would have told her if something was wrong, _right_? That's what best friends did.

The air was sharper. Breathing hurt.

' _You don't get it!'_ June had screamed, before they friendship had shattered. She'd said it often, until there'd been no more conversations, just insults.

That _couldn't_ happen. Not with V.

V had never run away from _her_ before.

But V couldn't run. They shared a tent. She _had_ to tell Anabel, who else -. Anabel's mind jumped to Gengar. ' _Milord'_.

 _Ghosts fed on fear. They created their own._

A shudder ran up her spine. She'd promised not to be suspicious but everything had been perfect _before_ Gengar. V said they barely talked, that he didn't trust her yet, but what did _he_ tell her?

"Ann, you're going to stand there staring at us forever?" Rosie called.

Anabel counted to ten until her tears were hidden. She wasn't a little kid anymore and this was just between her and V.

But they were _looking_ at her. She had to say something. "Should we always wait for the pokemon to come to us, like Machop?"

Nova snorted. "You'd never catch any of the shyer or rarer pokemon. Sometimes you have to go for it and accept it if the pokemon later doesn't want to stay in your team. But geos aren't subtle."

"Careful about capturing a pokemon that's obvious about not wanting to be caught," Seth warned. "That's how Nova spent a week in the hospital last year ago. Some play hard to get, but most mean it when they try to flee or get hyper aggressive."

"You didn't see it was going to attack you?"

"No, I totally did," Nova told her. "I just had never been to a hospital and wanted to see. I had heard the food was the best."

"Really?"

"Oh grow up and learn sarcasm already."

Anabel crossed her arms. "How do you know when you can try to catch one then?"

"Pokemon sulks and makes training difficult: it wants you to earn its respect. Pokemon tries to flee or hurts you bad on purpose: free it." When she didn't tease, Nova had an efficient all-business tone. "The only pokemon who make you chase them on purpose are predators with a tracker instinct. I learned the hard way."

Darren snickered. He hesitated but, finally, he turned towards them and pulled up his shirt.

There was a small water-drop tattoo on his ribs.

"People think I got this because I'm a water trainer."

But he wasn't. Anabel stuck close, not wanting to miss a word.

"When I was eleven, I got it in my head that I needed a mantine, to ride above the waves, like on TV. I went deep at sea with a fishing boat and two other trainers. We'd heard of sightings of a silver mantine that shimmered in the sunlight, swimming in a group of seven."

Anabel swallowed. She could already tell the story wouldn't end well.

Darren kept walking as he talked, and Anabel almost had to run to keep up.

"I didn't know one single thing about that shiny mantine, just that it was _mine_. It'll happen to you. One day, there'll be this wild pokemon, and you'll want it." His jaw clenched. "You'll want it so bad you won't care about the rest. I found the mantine. It was playful, they all were. I threw the net. They panicked, diving under, but my aim was good. I'd practiced. I snared it. Its family tried to help it get free, but our pokemon were stronger."

His guilt was muddy and suffocating, laced with hot anger. Anabel instinctively backed away.

Darren abruptly stopped walking. He inhaled, his fists clenched. "Mantine never attacked me. She –it was a she- was just sad and lonely, so much that she wouldn't eat. She'd been friendly and I'd torn her away from her family. It took me two weeks to grow the balls to let her go. I figured she'd find her group on her own as long as I freed her by the shore. I didn't check the weather. The next day, in the news, they said a silver mantine had died in the storm, slammed back on the beach."

Anabel hugged herself, her eyes misting over.

"The tattoo's to remember that pokemon don't owe me scrap. That I've got to ask and listen."

She'd _never_ catch a pokemon who didn't want it, no matter how strong, pretty, or rare.

"I turned myself in, but they left me my License." His chuckle was more a snarl. "The nurse there, and trust me, you don't _ever_ want see a pissed off Joy, told me I had taken, so now I had to give back. That's when I got serious about breeding." Darren's stare was heavy as steel. "Pokemon put their lives in our hands. Make them _good_ hands, or don't journey. Nobody's making you."

Anabel forced herself not to look down. "I promise," she whispered. But something about his story bothered her. "Darren… why did your pokemon accept to attack the mantine? I mean, if she didn't…"

She flinched at his bitter gasp of laughter.

"It's rare, pokemon with empathy for anyone other than their kin, or their team. Once they trust us, they obey, that's how it is. Can't blame them for not knowing rules nobody ever taught them. Mantine was my fault, only mine."

He turned his back to Anabel, leaving her to stare, her breathing shallow.

V had gone to walk next to Rosie. V never argued with Rosie. She looked at Rosie like she was the best person ever. And Eeveea… the kit looked so happy to be left to run wild.

Seth didn't look upset to see Eeveea run, even if he'd said she should save her strength for battles. Anabel trailed behind the group, her fists balled. Eeveea hadn't learned a new move since Growl. _How long would it take? Why was it so hard to get everything right?_

The rocky scenery was beautiful and not confusing, so Anabel took a deep breath and focused on that.

"How long until we see skarmory?" she asked Seth, when after one more hour, they'd not seen a single one.

"We've been seen for sure." His eyes searched the blue-and-white skies, and so did Anabel's, but if there was a steel bird out there, it was hiding really well. "They're careful with humans, they observe us. We'll see one tomorrow for sure, when they'll get used to us."

 _Tomorrow?_ "It's alright, if Eeveea runs all afternoon even if it's for nothing?"

He shrugged, a smile digging in his cheeks. "You tell me, is it for nothing?"

"She's happy to run, that matters, but…"

"But what?"

"But I want to be a good trainer! Why do you answer with questions so much?"

"The teachers do that." He did look sorry, so Anabel didn't glare. "It's annoying, I know, but they say it's the best way to make us think and learn." He gave her a small smile, almost shy. "You're doing pretty good. You bet I'll tell you, if you slack off."

Anabel sighed, her stress slowly melting away. "How many badges do you think we can get before November?"

It was August already, and they no badges, and…

"Three for sure, Four maybe." He scrunched his nose up as he thought about it. "Five if you get lucky with your new pokemon, and take very little time off."

"But Rosie said that good trainers who don't give up are Sixes, or even better, at the end of their first year."

"That's true, but it's August. You'll never be Sixes before the winter."

Anabel kicked at a pebble. She _couldn't_ come back home a failure. "Don't go easy on us, please."

"I'll go as hard as you let me." Seth shot a pointed look at V and Anabel's chest clenched harder.

She couldn't stay a zero. She just _couldn't_.

Seth's hand on her arm made the bad thoughts quieter.

"There's a trick to battles," he confided. "Too many trainers stay on their end of the arena. They miss things. Sometimes their pokemon don't hear them if there's a too loud noise. Battles are lost like that. If you watch Sevens or Eights battle, they run around all the time. Want to run after Eeveea with me to build up some stamina?"

Anabel grinned. "Totally!"

"Wait," Seth said, his face grave as he tugged at his –white today- badges-scarf. "Just… I'm better than you, and we won't be taking real showers until Fallarbor. You're going to sweat, and want to stop long before me. I don't want you to hate me because I'll have made you all disgusting. I… I know some girls have issues with that."

Anabel narrowed her eyes. "Is this sarcasm or a joke I'm not getting again?"

Seth blushed up to his ears. He'd been serious _._ Anabel snorted and shoved him before breaking into a run after Eeveea.

"Wait, I've got to close my umbrella! You're not supposed to sprint!"

Anabel laughed, not slowing for one second as Seth fumbled with the umbrella attached to his backpack. "Serve you right for having one when I don't!" she called.

He'd catch up soon enough.

* * *

 **Next chapter "The Wild Wild Wilderness" will be up sometime next week.**

 **I'd love to hear your thoughts^^.**


	20. The Wild Wild Wilderness

**CHAPTER 20: The Wild Wild Wilderness**

 **August 2nd 341 – Sunday**

All day, clouds had gathered, the air had thickened, warm and sticky, clinging to their skin like a second layer of sweat. The sun sunk behind the horizon on schedule, but the stifling heat stayed. Finally, in the deep of night, Jirachi heard their wishes: the skies ripped open, freeing one of biggest rainstorms Anabel had ever seen.

Certainly the biggest she'd ever been _under_.

The rain smashed into the tent. The fabric bent and groaned, struggling against the water's assault. It had been going on for _hours_. It was like it'd never stop. Around them, the rocky wilderness had become a thousand rivers of mud. Lying two feet above the ground had almost seemed like flying the first days. Now, it felt like barely enough.

The girls huddled together in the darkness, their sleeping-bags under them like mattresses. It was too hot to sleep covered. It was too loud to sleep at all.

"Catch! Geodude gang," V exclaimed, her breathing shallow.

 _What?_

V tore the front zipper open. The wind whooshed in howling. "Out, out, out! They'll pummel us like canned meat. They've got _rocks_."

Anabel grabbed her belt, her fingers flying over her pokeballs. _All there._

"No!" V hissed. "Don't show yourself unless it's life or death." _Gengar._

"Geos!" V cried, scrambling outside. "A geodude gang!"

The rain hit her like a Hydropump. _Welcome to Hoenn._ Anabel was spluttering before she'd even taken breath, her bare feet splashing in a warm puddle. Pushing her hair off her face before it could drown her, she freed Machop.

Torn from the pokeball's comfort, Machop yelped at the sudden onslaught of water.

She scrambled for cover when a rock almost hit her. _It was as big as her head!_

"Nobody move!"

Darren's shadow was big and scary in the dark. _Good_.

"Stay there, you two!" Darren called above the storm. "Don't let your pokemon fight. We've got this."

Anabel gasped as mud sloshed over her ankles. Her light blue pajamas clung miserably to her skin. She wrapped her arms around her chest. Why hadn't she chosen _dark_ colors?

She finally got enough water out of her eyes to adapt to the night. And see _them._

They weren't any bigger than the eevee, but they hovered high and had fists big enough to break her nose. There were three, _five_ , six, _ghosts!_ _seven_ , bullies of stone, zooming towards them.

V looked locked in a think-screaming match with an invisible Gengar. _She'd better be getting info on the geodude and not arguing._

But by the time Anabel's eyes fell back on Seth and the others, the guys _did_ have it under control.

Nidoqueen, Dodrio, Lucky… Even the Growlithe and Wisp, who had to hate both the geodude's rocky skins and this wretched rain, growled and whirled as if it was daytime. Nova hadn't freed Lapras, and Ann was glad not to have to watch out for stray scary-strong jets of water –on top of the buckets falling down already-. Instead, Nova's cacturne rushed after the farthest two rock monsters.

In the dark, those cacturne were death-scarecrows of nightmares. Anabel shuddered. How something as cute as little cactus cacnea evolve into those awful things…

She crouched next to Eeveea. Her tiny Eeveea, all soaking wet. "Every geodude," she said, glad to see her voice soothe her pokemon, "they've got to regret this."

"There's an eighth," V whispered, "there. Gengar says it's the last."

" _Aaaah!"_

Anabel whipped towards Rosie's scream before she could spot which geodude V was talking about.

Her heart stopped. One of the seven had tried to punch Rosie's face. Growlithe howled, his fire beam never leaving his paws.

Wisp, his own enemy forgotten, dashed for Rosie.

Anabel ducked her head as a blinding flash of white filled the air.

"Get it off me!" Rosie cried, suddenly invisible behind something huge and dark.

 _Torterra._ The enormous, hulking tortoise with a whole tree on its growth-covered shell.

' _Hit a pokemon too hard and they won't just faint. They'll die,'_ Mr. C had warned.

"Ann! ANABEL!"

Anabel froze in shock. _The eighth_. She'd never _ever_ wanted to see a wild geodude that close.

A golden ball of energy gathered in front of its evil grin.

Something, _V_ , yanked her arm and she fell backwards, blinking back rain as she gasped for breath. _She needed a big stick, something -_

Eeveea and Eeveevee, one silver, the other sizzling red, slammed into the geodude so hard it crashed on the ground and bouced, its oversized knuckles scratching the ground. Machop didn't even give it a chance to get up. He smashed into the rock pokemon with his foot, sending him soaring across the mud puddles like a soccer ball.

"I thought you were following me!"

Anabel just smiled and clung to V in relief. They made a great team.

It was still chaos, but the geos had lost their chance and each was being thrown back by a pokemon at least twice as strong as they were.

"I'll catch it," V said, pulling out a pokeball. "It was clever enough to wait and ambush, and it knows at least two moves…"

Anabel followed her best friend's gaze and realized she meant the fainted geodude that Eeveea was still using as target practise. No Quick Attack yet, but it wasn't from lack of trying.

"You'll get the chance to do that again," V announced, "now please move."

"She said _move_ ," Anabel sternly repeated when Machop ignored the order.

' _Foster healthy competition,'_ Seth had , now he'd totally have what he wanted.

 _Eww._ A drop of mud fell from Anabel's fingers down her back as she'd tried to fix her sticky pajama shirt. She was _covered_ in mud.

"We're safe," V whispered. "Gengar checked. We have him for the real trouble."

Anabel chuckled weakly. That was _real_ enough already.

Fire blasts, storms of leaves, showers of needles, beams shooting up from ground, Anabel could barely keep up, but soon everything was calm once more.

"I've got one extra," Darren said, waving a pokeball above his head.

Anabel followed his gaze and saw Nova pick up a pokeball from the ground where a geodude had been. Nova caught the pokeball Darren threw her. Another of the fainted geodude vanished in a flash of red.

She frowned. "You want geodude too? Are they special?"

Darren snorted. "Sure, she's setting up a choir. Sure you didn't cheat your way through your TL?"

Anabel bristled, shivering under the rain.

"We can't leave fainted pokemon around," Darren said, his voice kinder. "It's murder. We'll bring the extras to the center and they'll be freed back by the Rangers during their weekly patrol. If we'd not had enough pokeballs, we'd be calling the Rangers now, but no point in bothering them since we do."

Anabel looked down. She'd _known_ that. She was just… tired and wet. "Sorry, can't think straight," she muttered. "So they're not special."

Nova shook her head. "Just boring old failed alphas. See, geodude either go solitary or form gangs, but when somebody challenges the gang's alpha and fails, they get cast out. Those alpha-wannabes tend to find each other and form a new gang around the strongest one."

"They know trainers have pokemon, and must've figured they'd prove themselves like that," Seth added, walking up to her. His hand on her shoulder was a much needed comfort. "You alright?"

Anabel wiped her face. She was just spreading the mud, so she stopped. "They attacked Rosie." She hated this rain. Her feet stang, scratched by the rocks. She and V were the only ones who hadn't slipped on beach shoes. _Stupid._

"People sometimes act like dumb mugs; sometimes pokemon aren't too different," Rosie replied, her jaw set. She was squinting without her glasses. Anger made her a totally different person.

The geodude next to Torterra… it… it was in _pieces_. Shards of rock strewn around like some horrid puzzle. Torterra vanished in a flash of light, but the broken pokemon remained.

Everyone was so angry, and annoyed, and Rosie had almost… Anabel swallowed, helpless to push back the stinging tears filling her eyes.

"It's not all lost," Nova said, her cheer not fitting at all with the rest, "I have an idea. Girls, gimme balls for the last three. I'll get you new ones."

"Was this attack… normal?" Anabel handed Nova two pokeballs, her heart still hammering painfully.

They hadn't told her about this at school. Well they had actually: 'don't go too far off the roads', but -

Something small, wet and loving rubbed against her legs. _Oh, Eevee._ She didn't care for the mud and water anymore when she cradled her pokemon against her.

It was actually _less_ wet. Anabel looked up and saw V with her umbrella.

"Thanks," she whispered.

" _No_ ," Rosie ground out. She was angry, so angry, and hurt. "An ambush of a gang of _four_ , in the _daylight_ was expected. D, get me my spare glasses, please," she added weakly. "Can't see worth a damn."

Anabel gasped as she noticed the faint trickle of blood running down Rosie's nose.

"Two gangs must have met and decided to merge, fought for dominance and… and attacked without waiting for dawn because tempers were too high."

"Go ask Uxie if I care why right now, Seth!" Rosie snapped, turning away from the shattered geodude like it was poison.

Anabel swallowed. She hated seeing Rosie like this. She had to say something, but - "What would your Dr. Fiori tell her?" she whispered to V.

V looked upset and a little scared, but she gave Anabel the umbrella and went closer to Rosie.

"You did the safe thing, Rosie. It's also okay to feel bad about it."

A pained breath escaped Rosie's lips, her rainbow braids miserably dripping over her pajamas and a hand squeezing V's. Darren and Blaziken were staying close, and it looked like it helped.

"Gra-ow." Growlithe's plaintive growl broke Anabel's heart.

"Fire type in the rain, pet, you did what you could," Rosie managed.

"Anabel, umbrella closed, stand up and hands in the air," Nova called, a thick towel on her arm and an umbrella in her other hand. Lapras was right behind her. "Lapras'll get the mud off you."

Anabel swallowed but obeyed. She bit back a whimper when the rain hit her once more full-force.

Focused jets of poke-water _tickled_. It was like foamy water, but it blasted mud off well enough. With Nova's help, she was out of her pajamas and wrapped in the thick towel.

Pokemon vanished one after the other and Seth led them back their tent. "How'd you know they were here?"

"Ann and I were telling each other spooky stories because the rain was keeping us awake. I thought I'd heard something, so I freaked out and…and it was real."

How did V manage to come up with such _great_ lies in no time? None of the four were even the slightest bit suspicious.

The tent was _cold_.

Anabel yelped before her brain clicked. "Hi, Gengar," she squeaked. "Thank you for warning us," she added, reaching for her thickest towel. Nova's was wet now.

It didn't feel right to change with Gengar there. "Could you leave while I get naked five seconds?" she whispered.

~I could.~

"Get _out_ ," Anabel huffed. "And thanks again for before."

V's eyes were laughing. "He's staying out, don't worry."

Finally comfortable once more, Anabel was left to wonder about pokeballs' drying abilities. Were there towels for Eeveea in those bubbles of comfort? Pokeballs were much bigger on the inside and adapted to all known pokemon types, but did they have a _heater_?

"We'll have to say Gengar's with us soon…"

"That's good." Less lying was always good.

"He's not _upset_ , still… he had all those things to do before and now I didn't even let him fight. He -

"He can figure out how not to be a secret anymore," Anabel said with a yawn, "that'd be awesome…" She took a sharp breath. "V, has Rosie told you why she's so upset all the time?"

V stared as if she'd grown a second head. "She's upset?"

"When she frees her pokemon, and then… sometimes. It's like… I think the others know why."

Rosie had said she'd introduce one of her pokemon every few days. Until then, she and V weren't allowed to see them. It was fun and mysterious, but Rosie's feelings didn't match.

Wisp had greeted them Thursday morning with awesome flames-juggling circus-worthy moves. Yesterday morning, a huge snorlax had come in their tent, snoring them awake and almost giving them a heart attack, until Rosie had yelled 'Otto, breakfast!'.

Rosie had said five, so that meant two they'd never seen. Anabel wished they'd met Torterra differently.

"Gengar said she was the most scared of all," V whispered. "I didn't –"

Chill and echoes flooded her mind. _He was supposed to be out!_

~Her journey ends this year. She speaks of it as if it has already ended. The third place was a failure. She blames her pokemon. She knows it is not fair. She does not know how to let go. She fears for the future.~ _What?_ ~Those are all things she told her cousin.~

"You've been spying on them?" _What a sneak!_ "How is being third at the Grand Festival not _awesome_?"

V had gone pale and silent in her sleeping bag. Anabel reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

"We can't say we know, Ann," V muttered after a thick pause. "Those are secrets. She has to tell us or it's betrayal." V's head snapped up. "I don't know! I…" the rest of her answer had to be thoughts. V kept talking with her face.

"What did he say?" _Why couldn't he tell Anabel too?_

"I think his old master was proud of him when he got secrets..."

Anabel buried her face in her pillow to not groan. _Duh_.

 _Wait –_ "He calls you 'master'? 'Mistress'?"

V snorted. "No. That'd be nuts."

A relieved breath left Anabel's lungs. No way 'master' could mean anything good.

Oo*oOo*oO

White dawn barely pierced through the clouds, but outside they were all already getting up and ready. Anabel hoped the landscape being all rock meant it wouldn't be too soggy. She crawled out of the tent with Eeveea, and froze the moment she raised her head.

Geodude.

 _Talking._ Anabel took a deep breath. Just talking to Nova and Seth. The fear just didn't stick in the sunlight. They were just head-sized rocks with big fists.

Low growls rumbled from Eeveea's chest. Anabel crouched and buried her hands in her soft white collar. "Hush, it's alright."

What did Seth and Nova want to do with _six_ geodude?

"Nova's got an _idea_." Darren stressed the word like it was something big. He was scrubbing mud-splashes off the side of his tent. "Those tend to be interesting."

Anabel's eyes zeroed on the dynamite held by a farfetch'd on Nova's shirt. She squared her shoulders, not wanting to be a snubbull.

"Isn't it like a reward, to train them after they attacked?"

Darren chuckled. "Come on, Ann, trainers aren't selfless saviors." He took a sharp breath, his smile souring. "They had the advantage: night, the weather, everything, but truth is, they're scrubs."

 _Scrubs? That_ was weak? What if they'd been strong? Nervous laughter left Anabel's lips.

She almost tripped over Eeveea. The kit was stone-stiff, pressed hard against her legs. _Aw, no, don't be scared._

But even in her arms, Eeveea wouldn't tear her eyes off the geos.

"These things happen," Darren said. "What matters is to not get overwhelmed. You'll laugh about it later."

Anabel nodded, reminded of Mr. Cinders' words, that last night. _'Sooner or later, trouble finds you_.'

A big yawn announced V's presence. "I thought we'd fainted all those last night."

"Breeding can take you far from Routes and cities. I can't count on pokecenters and might faint more pokemon than I'm allowed to carry." Darren smirked at their confused frowns. "I've my own portable healing station. Just put a pokeball inside and it heals. It's got a battery life of roughly twenty pokemon, so no, you're not getting to use it for training."

 _His own PHS?_ Wow, breeding was serious business.

Eeveea burst out of her arms. "Hey!"

The kit bared her teeth at Darren, ears folded and her back arched low.

"Hey, hey, hey, Eevee, it's okay." Anabel kneeled by her little one. She flinched when Eeveea shook her off, her tail cutting the air restlessly. "What's wrong?"

Anabel's hand curled around Eeveea's pokeball. This wasn't like her.

Seeing the ball made Eeveea go wild. "Vee, eevee eh, eevee! Eevee –" _He's enemy! He makes them strong. Not us. They'll attack. What if I'm not there_?" She snarled at the ball, her whole body shaking. _"I won't go in there!"_

Darren set his sponge down and stood up.

"Darren, leave it." This was _her_ job. Yesterday's guilt and questions came flooding back.

"Darren won't let them hurt us, I promise." But that wasn't enough. "You want us to slow down training, Love, so you can be out all day again like before? Like Eeveevee?"

"Eevee, eeh?"

"Of course we'll still get good! I promise you."

Her eevee slowly relaxed into her, but a small growl escaped her teeth as she turned back towards the geodude.

Anabel turned around, blocking Eeveea's sight of the rock-types. She pressed a kiss on her furry forehead. "You heard Darren: it was just a scare. We're safe now."

"How long until we're off?" V called, tightening her backpack straps.

"Five minutes," Rosie called from the tent she shared with Nina.

"I'll need fifteen," Darren admitted, groaning as he reached with his wet sponge for a new splash of caked mud.

"Take twenty and shave that fuzz, Probopass."

Darren scowled at Rosie and rubbed his hand over the sparse dark hair that did admittedly fail at making anything resembling a decent mustache. He muttered something that couldn't be nice.

Anabel decided to change the subject. "Why don't you and Seth share the tent?" They both had tents to fit four people in.

Darren made a blah face. "And smell his night-farts? No thanks. Seeing his face all day's enough."

Rude, and _ew_. "I thought you were _friends_."

Darren stared down at her with a huff. "Doesn't mean we want to sleep together. I'm not ten anymore. Get busy helping me, or go distract someone else."

A flash of white had Anabel spin around.

V's geodude hovered shakily a couple of feet off the ground, its arms hanging limply by its side. It sneered and raised a fist half-way.

 _That_ was the thing that had made her so scared the night before?

A mass of growling, cutting silver slammed into the geodude before it had a chance to move.

The rock-type crashed into the ground with a nasty _crack_.

Its fists twitched one last time before going slack.

Eeveea's defiant look dared anyone to tell her off.

V sighed. "Okay. Pokecenter."

Anabel's mouth was dry. She had to find the right words for Eeveea. Last night was _over._ "Hey, we're safe now. Geodude won't hurt us, even if it tries."

"Veh. Eevee." Her fluffy little one sounded so nervous. "Ee, veh, eevee!"

Anabel heard _what if,_ doubts and fear and it broke her heart. She crouched and brought the Eeveea's front paws to her heart. Her weight was strong and reassuring. "You did beautifully." She smiled, willing it to be warm and safe. "We're in the deep wilds and soon, we won't need the big guys to watch our backs."

Eeveea nuzzled against Anabel's cheek, her fur rising as she tried to puff up protectively.

"I mean that," Anabel fiercely insisted. "We'll be so strong we'll never be afraid again. And I _promise_ I'm not balling you unless you want it."

The air filled with those soft pretty chimes only she could hear, and Anabel lifted her eyes to see V's warm smile. It was like hot chocolate after riding from school on the coldest days.

Anabel's new smile came easy. She hugged Eeveea close, whispering comfort-words.

But something was weird. Eeveea's fur tickled her fingers, like static energy. It was getting uncomfortable.

Anabel gently set Eeveea down and took a step back. "Eeveea?"

The pokemon was glowing, literally. Pale purple light trickled out of her fur, wrapping her like second skin. Behind the sheet of light, Eeveea stretched, growing, growing, until she was three times as big. Her fluffy tail lengthened and thinned, dividing at the tip until there were two.

It was so bright Anabel had to hide her eyes.

Finally, the light dimmed and dispersed. A sleek purple robe had replaced Eeveea's long white and brown fur. The light had stolen her white fur collar, revealing a slender, elegant neck.

 _Espeon_. She was so beautiful.

Anabel didn't have to crouch anymore for Espeon to put her front paws on her shoulders.

Long tufts of fur on her cheeks granted her a new seriousness. Anabel touched them with a trembling hand.

 _Espeon. Wow._

A red gem bigger than Anabel's thumb glowed between deep purple eyes with large white pupils. Eeveea's eyes. Just more magical. Her ears, large and pointy as ever, quivered with excitement as her chest heaved breathlessly, her breath warm on Anabel's face.

"I… I…I love you," Anabel croaked, her eyes misting with happy tears.

"Don't get too mushy now," Darren warned. But he gave her thumbs up.

Anabel laughed, kissing Eeveea/Espeon just above her nose.

"Eevee, you don't have to evolve."

Her grin faded into a frown. Eeveevee _did_ look cornered. Usually Eeveevee was dreamy and easily distracted, now she was small and shivering, her ears twitching in panic.

"You don't even have to pick your favourite evolution now." V said. "I'd be upset if you evolve too early and regret your choice." V's voice lowered to a whisper. "We have our chilly friend for big trouble."

She turned towards Eeveea and smirked. "You're littler than your sister now. So you can annoy her and she _has_ to tolerate it."

And just like that Eeveevee perked up, mischief filling her fluffy little frame. She yapped, diving for Espeon's thin twin purple tails. Anabel laughed when Eeveevee grabbed one between her teeth and tugged.

"Espeh," Eeveea-Espeon huffed, twisting her head to scowl at her now much smaller sister.

"Valeria, you've had better ideas," Anabel pointed out, forcing sternness into her expression out of loyalty.

V's bright smile made it really difficult. "Not sorry."

"Well done!" Seth clapped Anabel on the back. "Training's going to be fun."

 _Espeon._ Anabel's cheeks ached from smiling so hard.

Oo*oOo*oO

Espeon was fascinated with her own body. Anabel couldn't blame her.

Seated on the ground, Anabel couldn't tear her gaze away. Gone were the days of picking her up, but that was alright. Having a kit had been magical, but a friend, somebody you had at eye level, that didn't just obey but _understood_ … Nothing was more special.

Espeon stopped turning on herself and lifted her head, trapping Anabel in her gaze. Those white pupils stole her breath away once more. Something precious, bigger than any of them, burned inside Espeon's huge eyes.

Anabel's fingertips brushed the red gem between Espeon's eyes. It pulsed, alive.

Anabel gasped. _Chimes_.

 _No way_. An awed grin split her lip. She wasn't imagining it. She'd _never_ been able to sense any feelings from a pokemon before. The gem was warm under her palm, and a dozen chimes sung strong as Espeon pressed affectionately against her.

"Your happiness sings, you know?" she whispered. "You… I'll practice, somehow, and I'll be able to tell what you feel. We're going to be special, you and I."

She wasn't sure how long she stood there, just listening, until a hand shook her shoulder.

"Check out Growlithe and Nova."

Anabel grudgingly removed her hand from the gem and followed V's gaze. Growlithe was stretched out on the camping table and Nova stood over him, with a pair of _scissors,_ cutting tufts of fur.

 _Nova_ had been doing all those cool shapes in the black-striped orange fur all along?

A groan escaped her lungs as she stood up. _Ow_. Why weren't her legs making better muscles instead of complaining all the time? "Let's go see!"

They ran to the tall blue-haired girl, eyes-wide and soon breathless.

"Where d'you learn that?"

Nova grinned, her eyes not leaving Growlithe. "What do you want to do, growing up?"

Anabel blinked… and came up blank. Mom and Dad bought her 'Kid's Dreams' magazine that also had people telling about their apprenticeships and jobs and making them all sound awesome, but… Mom, Dad, Uncle Merle, Grandma, they _loved_ their jobs like Anabel couldn't imagine loving doing anything.

She blushed. She _should_ know. At her age, they'd all known.

"I like training, I think," she mumbled. She tried to imagine ever getting tired of Espeon, and she couldn't.

Nova chuckled and it sounded like a challenge. "You and a million kids. That's a tall mountain to climb."

Anabel bristled. "I'll –"

"What's that to do with Growlithe's fur?" V cut in.

"I want to become a hairdresser," Nova said, snipping at a tuft of Growlithe's collar. It was starting to look like a galaxy-like twirl.

"Pokemon hairdresser?"

Nova laughed. "No, this is just fun. It's shabby by pro standards. I do people."

V frowned. "Why are you at a pokemon trainer school then?"

Nova smile went tight. "Why shouldn't I enjoy this?" she said. "My friends chose comfort over freedom, but I've got the rest of my whole life for comfort." Her eyes fell on her scissors. "Battles are good money, and nobody travels cheaper than trainers. I'll be apprenticed next year."

"Does that mean you'll have to stop?" With her backwards cap and her funny pokemon T-shirts, Anabel couldn't see Nova doing anything other than training.

"They don't want fifteen year olds mixing with ten year olds. It's almost impossible to get your license renewed past twelve if you're not in a Pokemon Trainer School. Rosie's lucky her parents are–" Whatever Nova was about to say, she thought better of it. "Anyway, I don't want to be a breeder like Darren, so I've got until next August."

 _Snip. Snip._ Growlithe sat very relaxed, making the table look like the most comfortable of couches.

"Growlithe doesn't look _shabby_ ," Anabel pointed out. "He's awesome."

Nova smiled. "Thanks, but styling pokemon's not my thing and there's just too many people doing it. People are a lot of fun too. I can't wait to do colors like what Rosie has."

Anabel's hand had gone instinctively to her own dull lilac ponytail. She grabbed a fistful of locks. They'd gotten wild and dry since she'd left home and Anabel ripped off half her hair whenever she tried to brush them.

' _You look pathetic.'_ June's mean words shouldn't have cut so deep, but Anabel hadn't forgotten. "Could you do my hair?"

Nova gave her a once over. "Like what? I need a real place to do colors."

"Something short and serious and easy to brush." Something that wouldn't make wind and rain her enemies. Something that would say _trainer_ rather than _kiddie_.

Anabel turned when she felt V's fingers on her head. "Just saying goodbye," V said with an affectionate smile.

Anabel laughed, releasing a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. Back at school, even Skye, who played with the toughest of the boys, had had hair almost to her shoulders. But short like Mom would make it all much easier.

"You're one-hundred percent certain you want a short-do?" Nova said.

Anabel squared her jaw and sat down. "Absolutely."

"Then lets get settled," Nova said, her eyes glinting. "I'm getting conditioner first." It turned out Nova had about ten different products just for hair.

Nova asked her some more questions, and then hair started falling all around. _Snip. Snip. Snip._ Anabel grinned when Espeon came running, her eyes wide in alarm.

"Speh. Es-speh?" Espeon inquired, gingerly circling Nova and the piles of purple locks.

"I'm evolving too," Anabel said. "I'm a trainer now."

A sigh of happiness left her lips when Nova massaged the conditioner into her hair. She'd never thought she could be so relaxed with a lapras' face so close to hers, but the pokemon could also be gentle, and Lapras' water was just the right temperature in the heat.

 _Snip. Snip_. Anabel had been nervous at first but now she couldn't wait to see.

"Almost done. They shouldn't give you trouble anymore, as long as you don't forget to brush them morning and night."

"I won't," Anabel promised. "Thank you so much."

"Dude, Seth, did you show Anabel your Licence picture?" Darren said with a smirk once Nova was done. "You had the exact same hair. Looked better then, too."

Anabel blushed. _That's not -_. V didn't look happy anymore. Anabel swallowed back sudden fear. Had she made a huge mistake?

"He's speaking out of his butt," Seth replied. "You've got a layered longish pixie cut with pointed strands that draw attention to your features, plus, a natural volume effect that most people would pay for."

Nova tousled his silver hair, looking really proud.

Darren looked like Seth had grown a second head. "Dude, d'you just use like fifty adjectives to describe Anabel's _hair_?"

"I travel with _Nova_ ," Seth snapped. "You'd have more friends if you learned to listen."

Darren couldn't be too bad at it, though. Anabel's eyes flashed to Rosie, who was still next to her tent. Why couldn't Rosie tell _them_?

"I could do your hair too," Nova pointed out, tousling Seth's hair again while he tried to get away. "Then you'd stop borrowing my hairbands."

"They're _boy's_ hairbands. I look stupid with my hair too short."

"Actually, hate to break it to you, but-" Darren was cut off by Seth's shoulder colliding with his chest. He shoved Seth backwards with a scoff. "Back off runt, you're going to break a nail."

Red faced and cursing, Seth jumped at him. Nova's laughter covered the boys' insults.

 _Guys…_

"Does it really look alright?" Anabel whispered. If V hated it, she'd buy a wig.

V's eyes crinkled. "You look like you're doing this for real now. It's brilliant."

Staring in the mirror, Ann loved it. If anyone called her _pathetic_ now, she'd punch the meanness right out of them.

* * *

 **There they are, our little kids (and their pokemon!), growing into their Journey.** **Next chapter "Trainer Routine," will be out sometimes between Thursday and Saturday next week.**


	21. Trainer Routine

**CHAPTER 21: Trainer Routine**

 **August 3rd 341 – Monday**

Ugh, breeding was such a _chore_.

Mr. Cinders' version, now _that_ had been nice. Lots of pups, new things every day, and Azu. Catch, Valeria missed Azu. Not the poachers, though. At least with Darren, no madmen would turn up one morning and ask him for pokemon.

 _Hopefully_.

Valeria's eyes swept the ground as the group made their way through the patchy grass. You had to be careful, or you'd rip your skin off on a concealed rock. No shoes could protect from _those_ sharp edges.

No wonder skarmory had skin like metal. The whole landscape was out to rip you to shreds.

Yesterday's kidnapping had been brilliant. Seeing Eeveevee soar through the sky, trapped in a metal claw half her size, had been a thrilling kind of terrifying. They'd hiked all together to the skarmory's nest, making plans, telling jokes, and whispering about the shadowy cracks in the rocks, about what might hide in there. No battling, just… _exploring_ , and stories.

Skarmory didn't make their bramble nests in the highest places, just in places you couldn't reach, close to the sharpest rocks the cliffs had to offer. They could see her, Eeveevee, just on the other side of that twenty-yard drop. She was gingerly crawling around the nest, testing her fear of heights, tasting the swirling wind. The skarmory just stared at her, as if it had finally found a cartoon it liked on TV, except it had to kidnap its own cartoons to enjoy them. Or something.

The twenty-yard drop became a non-problem after Seth and Darren freed their flying types.

That had been the first shock.

Seth had trained a _dragonite_. He'd found and caught a _dratini_. He'd trained it past the level required to earn _any_ badge.

Ann had gushed over the seven-foot dragon for _hours_ , chiding Seth for keeping a secret.

Dragonite hadn't been too happy to have been locked a whole five days in his pokeball. He'd gobbled down half Valeria's weight in pokemix, before acknowledging her and Ann with a huff that wasn't all that friendly, but it wasn't mean either. It was enough to guarantee that the eevee wouldn't be food, which was all Valeria really wanted for now.

Seth had blushed to death when Nova had revealed he'd kept the dragon hidden to _'not be_ that _guy'_.

Maybe Seth wasn't boasting _enough_ , considering.

' _That's how good we're going to get,'_ Ann had said, eyes bright and a spring in her step, like the world was hers to take. Valeria had smiled back, fiercely wanting it to be true.

In the end, that first skarmory had been a handsome male, so Darren had captured it and put the pokeball in a yellow cube-machine _._

' _It reads the pokemon's signature. It's going to give me a list of the skarmory's main attributes and known moves,"_ Darren had explained _. 'I can tell if it's a good specimen for breeding that way.'_

It was all so professional, and Valeria hoped scientists would get those machines cheap so that everyone could use them one day.

A quarter-hour later, Darren had declared that the skarmory wasn't what he was looking for. He showed them the readings, and yup, the statistics were nothing to boast about. Valeria had been scared there'd be a fight then, an ugly one. Because how did you tell a giant bird of steel that he wasn't _good enough_? Darren hadn't been scared at all: he gave the skarmory pokemix treats and Berries and said this was an expedition to learn more about skarmory. He said that humans thought skarmory were special and important to learn about.

Not that it was _exactly_ a lie. Ann had called it _manipulation_ , even if she agreed the skarmory's feelings mattered. Valeria called it _brilliant_ , because _just look at the size of those sharp steel claws_.

She'd been dumb back then. She'd thought the poor stats had been bad luck. She'd still been hung up on those brilliant machines.

The second male had not wanted to breed. Of course, he'd not bothered to tell them that until he'd seen Darren's pokeball. He'd dived and almost murdered Darren, who'd looked a bit worried but not that surprised. Two lightning-quick blows from Lucky and a _whuff_ from Dragonite had the skarmory decide that accepting a couple of Berries was a much better deal than ending up a fainted steel heap.

The third to swoop down and kidnap Eeveevee had been female. They'd still had to hike for a whole hour before getting close enough to figure _that_ out. Aerodactyl was a horny idiot and almost got himself skewered. Nova almost fell off the cliff from laughing so hard.

' _What happens to the kidnapped if there's no one to rescue them?'_ Ann had asked.

' _They put them back within a day or so. They're not hoarders, just a grabby kind of curious.'_

By the fifth skarmory, and third male, even Eeveevee's inexhaustible joy at being snatched up and flown high above the ground had worn thin. _Catch_ , _they'd been at it the whole day!_

Valeria breathed in relief when the skarmory gently agreed to get caught instead of going all wild like the second male.

Darren shook his head at the readings.

"What's wrong with this one?" Ann said, her voice all polite and curious instead of a much deserved _are you kidding me, Darren?_ "That bar is almost maximum. Those two are really tall too. That's three great stats out of seven, and none are _bad_."

Rosie laughed, a long rich laugh which sang _ha ha, you silly kiddy_.

So Valeria scowled for the both of them. She couldn't stay annoyed at _Rosie_ , though. She wished she was clever enough to talk to Rosie, to make the secrets not-secrets in the proper way, but she had no idea how.

"Darlings, finding a good pokemon for breeding often takes a week even in prime habitat." Rosie said, still chuckling. "Finding a _great_ pokemon can take a month. Go back to the road, ride to Fallarbor and set up camp. We'll keep you posted."

Valeria stilled. They couldn't mean to keep Eeveevee.

"You'll handle it without Dragonite?" Seth said.

"I'll call if I need him to track down Aerodactyl," Darren said with a half-smile. "And this old boy is _old_ ," he added with a frown. "Must be a careful one."

Right now, the old skarmory had made himself very small, wings tight against his body. He stayed close though, staring.

"I think he's great," Ann announced. "May I keep him?"

It was crazy how just by shedding some hair Ann suddenly looked twelve (well, a _short_ twelve), and ready to tackle anything thrown at her.

Valeria dug her fingers in her long hair. They knitted themselves into a blanket the moment she stopped brushing. With the heat, there was no option except gathering them into a heap on her head and clamping it down. Loose curls kept tumbling down around her face and Nova wasn't shy with her pointed judging looks. Without the special shampoos, though, there just wasn't getting rid of the frizz or making them curl properly. For all its mess, her hair was _hers,_ warm and heavy. Valeria shuddered at the thought of chopping everything off.

"Anabel, if people ask, you caught him yourself." Darren had a serious voice. This was his _serious_ serious voice. "It's cool to give a pokemon to a trainer your level, but I could catch powerful pokemon you can't handle. This one's okay. Just say you caught him."

Ann nodded quickly. "It's okay for you, Skarmory? We'll be traveling and training all together, with Eeveevee, and Dragonite and Aerodactyl, and also lots of others."

Skarmory edged closer, his long beak pointed safely to the ground. He craned his neck to stare better at the pokeball in Ann's hand.

Ann's merry laughter was snatched by the wind and echoed against the rugged cliffs, filling the landscape with much needed warmth. The bird vanished inside the ball.

Rosie smiled. "Don't worry, that one wouldn't have been much of a challenge for you. Want to catch one too, V?"

Valeria blinked. _Catching_ brought Machop to mind _._ A short muscled whirlwind eager to pummel his way to power. Or Geodude, who was nasty on top of wanting to be alpha. Both had _attacked_ them, one way or another.

"I'm fine," she decided. Geodude was still a stranger, fainted in her pokeball, and Valeria didn't need Skarmory to be _hers_ to enjoy having him around. "I don't want Eeveevee to stay if I'm going, though. Can't one of Nova's geos be bait?"

"Okay, _no_." Nova had _six_ geodude, and shook her head like Valeria had said something crazy. _What a drama queen._ "I need them all."

 _What for_ was a big mystery.

"Use Lenz," Nova continued. "The weak skarmory won't dare get close. It'll save you time."

"Lenz?" Ann said. "You name all your pokemon?"

"Tentacruel, and yes," Rosie's mouth smiled. Her eyes smiled much less. Valeria had so many questions. "It feels right."

"It's a pro-coordinator thing," Darren said. "She's got to work at being unique. She didn't train the snorlax because he's the best pick for cute contests."

"Otto is the cutest!"

Darren snorted. "Three blasted weeks she spent obsessively climbing every honey tree in Sinnoh and shouting at _me_ because it wasn't munchlax season."

Rosie's guilty grin told them that Darren was teasing.

"Otto dominates," she declared, flipping her rainbow braids back. "People keep copying the pokemon of previous festival winners when so many species deserve a chance. Cool contests were a sea of pichu last season, and guess what? Gamble thrashed them all." She showed them a pokeball, a mysterious smile lighting up her face. "She's my lucky charm."

White energy flashed from the ball and _whoa!_ a huge yellow spider jumped straight on Rosie's back.

"A galvantula!" Ann exclaimed, her face snapping back and forth from Rosie to the fluffy monster. But _tentacruel_ weren't your usual cute either. "You caught it in Unova?"

"Yup. Shake their hands, Gamble."

 _Hand_ , oh-kay. Valeria crouched with a brave face as the pokemon leapt in front of her. It outstretched a big hairy leg which ended in a nasty-looking hook. Those six eyes were _definitely_ staring at her strange.

Valeria held her breath and shook the 'leg'. The hair were a raspy sort of soft.

Seth laughed at their awkwardness. "Watch Rosie's last videos," he said. "She goes in there with them instead of hanging back, and usually has three or four pokemon cooperating. It's great."

"Ten year olds can do decent traditional coordinating videos. I've got to stay on top of things."

"Don't get modest, Rosie," Darren chided. He turned to her and Ann. "It's not just training. The pokemon have to fit, like pieces of a puzzle. But you know the worst?"

"No," Ann whispered eyes-wide as Valeria shook her head.

"Viewers get bored. Rosie has to change pokemon every few seasons. She's on her third full team. Only Wisp, the blaziken, has been here since the start. Gamble and Otto are the newbies." He flashed Rosie a smile. "Four months is it?"

"Five on the 13th." Rosie grabbed the huge spider and rubbed her nose against the pokemon's belly, letting Gamble dig her fuzzy legs in her braids. "Gamble's my fluffy lucky charm, _but_ ," she laughed, "Lenz won't try to murder her kidnapper."

Murder. _Murder._ And Rosie had made them shake hands with that thing. She let that thing all over her _face_.

Valeria giggled at the giant spider, odd warmth replacing her nervousness. Rosie wouldn't hate Gengar, she _couldn't_. Not when she didn't mind _this_.

Lenz, the tentacruel, was as tall as Nova, her long tentacles floating in the air as if it was water. The red crystal spheres on her head shone so bright no skarmory would miss it.

"Come on," Nova said. "Let's leave them to work." She groaned when Valeria and Ann just kept staring at Lenz. "I figured you'd be blasé after seeing Eden."

Eden had to be the torterra. "We stared at Eden too," Ann pointed out. "Lenz is beautiful. They all are."

"Talk _and_ climb down," Darren called from ten yards below them. "I don't want to spend the night here."

Valeria's knees groaned at the sight of that joke of a trail they'd followed to the nest. Her hands were one big ache despite those brilliant padded gloves Rosie had lent her and Ann.

"I think we've seen Rosie's full team, finally," Ann muttered excitedly.

Valeria grabbed her arm, leaning closer to her. "Was Rosie scared right now?"

"No! And she finally told us stuff."

Rosie hadn't told them _much_. But Ann's grin made it impossible not to smile.

 **August 4th 341 – Tuesday**

Valeria breathed in, enjoying the cool of the large air-conditioned waiting room. Seth had told them to come around 10 AM to avoid queues. He'd been right. The pokecenter was empty.

Too empty. There was nobody behind the counter.

"Is there a bell somewhere?" Ann wondered while she double-checked the opening hours.

A big swing door had to open to the place where pokemon were healed. Joys, the clone nurses, took care of them.

"I can hear voices," Ann said. "Come on."

The door opened in a wide white corridor. The door to their left was open. A short slight boy with dark-green hair had their back to them.

"You've gotta be joking. Can't you cure it, Nurse? She looks healthy!"

He sounded like he was about to cry, or break something.

"I'm sorry." They couldn't see the woman the soft voice belonged to. "She is healthy but her energy levels won't grow. She –"

"She's disabled! It took me a whole week to – I almost broke my leg catching this blasted skarmory and I got myself a disabled one!" He took a shaky breath. "Stuff this, I'm going home." That's when he spotted her and Ann. "What are _you_ staring at?"

"We can get you a skarmory," Ann stammered. "A friend is looking for a special one, so there's heaps he's not catching."

The boy snorted. "I'm not owing anything to some golden grubber. I'm done."

 _Golden grubber?_

"But… _why_?" Ann exclaimed. "How many badges –"

"Got six from Kanto, home, and seven here," he said, defiant pride hardening his gaze. "How do you even know when you catch a pokemon, that they're eighth badge material? I thought I'd caught good ones!"

 _How could you know?_ Valeria shuddered _,_ her mind filling with the nurse's voice, this time telling _her_ that Eeveevee and Geodude had something wrong.

Valeria started when the boy punched the wall. _Ouch_. "I've done the training thing a million times already! I'll never get one ready before the winter."

"But wait, no!" _Ann, just get out of his way!_ "Can't your friends-"

"Right, _friends_. They left for Ever Grande after I lost the fourth bloody rematch." Chin raised, he stared down at them. "You can't tell at first, but there's _always_ a loser. Sooo, who's the loser among you two…"

Valeria narrowed her eyes. _Okay, that dude has a problem._

The pink-haired Joy finally popped out of the room.

"That's enough, Mister," the nurse cut in firmly. "Calm yourself." She flashed her and Ann a welcoming but harried smile.

"Whatever, I'm going home. Can't believe I miss my stupid sister…"

Valeria had to flatten herself against the corridor wall to not get shoved. The boy didn't look back as he stormed out of the building.

Ann's jaw didn't want to close. "But… He can't…"

"He got his starter not this summer, but the one before," Nurse Joy explained. "It's a good length for a Journey. It's important to also know when to stop and move on."

Ann didn't look like she liked that answer. "What's going to happen to his pokemon?"

"He's going to return his pokedex to his hometown's Professor and they'll discuss it." Nurse Joy's voice was kind and soft. It blew away Valeria's nervousness. "Hundreds of people work with former trainers, companies, and government institutions to find places for the pokemon trainers don't keep. We all care deeply for them. Now, what can I do for you?"

"Full health check-ups," Ann said eagerly, handing over her pokeballs. Valeria's fingers paused right above Gengar's. _No, better keep him secret._

"Do you think we'll start hating our Journey one day?" Ann whispered as Nurse Joy left. "I can't imagine it happening…There's so much to do!"

Valeria nodded. She missed lazying around and reading, sometimes, but here she could make all the choices and every day was full of new things. _And there was Ann_ , nothing could beat that, even when things got tough.

It was a good quarter-hour before Joy would get the health-check results. They fiddled curiously with the uploading machines and admired the wall full of pictures. Pictures of hundreds of trainers with their pokemon.

"That's Flannery," Ann exclaimed. "Her grandfather, Mr. Moore, was an Elite Four when Dad was little." For someone who hadn't wanted to journey, she sure knew a whole lot. "Ghosts, she's pretty..."

The picture showed a girl with scary-wild hair, half-torn gray clothes, and a blinding grin. The redhead had one of the small armored aron at her feet, and three friends laughing all around her.

"She's working at Lavaridge Gym now. I bet she'll be Gym Leader one day. She had to be starting out just like us."

Flannery's picture was circled with a gold thread, like everyone a little famous. It was so fun to see so many famous people when they'd been kids.

"Look, Roxanne!" Ann gushed. "Wow, that's a swablu."

Seth kept saying that Roxanne was one of the very best Gym Leaders even if she did just the first badge. She was an assistant-teacher or something at his school, but he barely ever spoke of the _other_ teachers. Kid-Roxanne was cute, with thick ribbons in her hair; she stood stiff, though, as if there was an invisible wall between her and her little pokemon.

"She looks scared of it," Valeria muttered. "With the way Seth goes on about her, it's nice to know she was nervous too, when she was little."

Ann's fierce side-hug was unexpected, and her grin brought picture-Flannery's to shame. Valeria laughed, hugging her back.

The rushed up to the counter when Joy finally came back.

"Your pokemon are all healthy. Your Geodude is a she, and I pumped her back awake. She's still low health and she'll be exhausted until she gets a few hours' sleep. She's… less happy than the others. Knock-out capture?"

"Yeah." Valeria giggled, her nerves melting away. Ann grinned back, and the pokecenter suddenly seemed much more welcoming. "How long must Geodude stay to feel good again?"

She didn't want to use all her Berries on geodude, or wait three days before having her battle, when the pokecenter did it all for free.

"Six hours. Do you have the papers for the two eevee?"

They had already shown Joy their pokedexes, and now they held their breaths as Joy scanned the file Mr. Cinders had given them. She finally nodded. "Great, thank you. Your starters haven't been to a pokecenter since their pre-Journey check-up. These say the eevee were sold to you in mid-July, but you left Mauville mid-May." _Catch, they could see all that?_ "This… this is the first time you show up at a pokecenter. Everything's going well?"

Valeria nodded with a tight smile. She couldn't let Gengar faint, not for a long while, because Nurse Joy would _never_ believe she'd caught him.

"There are available councilors for trainers," Joy reminded them. "The addresses and contacts are on the brochure by the counter. They're free, it's anonymous if you want it to be, and you won't get in trouble. You'll get help with your pokemon, your money, dealing with fights with your travel companions, homesickness, trouble with other trainers… the doors are wide-open girls."

Joy looked so kind that Valeria almost allowed herself to believe that seeing those people would solve all her problems in a blink.

"We know," Ann said and _catch_ , she looked guilty.

Nurse Joy frowned. The woman wasn't going to let it go.

So Valeria lied. A simple lie to stop the questions. "Torchic and Treecko didn't like us. They kept fighting and… They left." _Sorry, Treecko_. "It was tough to accept, but we wanted to go on, so we spent time saving up money and bought the eevee. Now we're starting over."

Ann was staring at the ground, her cheeks burning red. "We just want to train and earn badges… like everyone else!"

" _Left_?"

"Yes, we freed them after a few days," Valeria said, her jaw clenched. "They were fed up with us for some reason. They were happy to leave."

"Why… why didn't you go back with them to the Professor? Or come to _us_?"

Valeria shrugged. "They wanted to leave."

"We just couldn't get them to like us…" Ann muttered, staring furiously at the ground.

Valeria's shoulders slumped when Nurse Joy put her arms around them. She felt bad for lying now, but she had to.

"I'm so sorry... Girls, I'm going to have to signal the loss of your starters in your file. Don't forget you'll have to show up to your November meeting."

Valeria didn't want to think about November. November was school starting again. It was Mauville and Gene and not-Ann.

"We never meant to miss it," Ann exclaimed, looking almost offended. "We'll have badges and great stories to tell."

Joy laughed. "I hope so! Just don't forget to take advantage of the many allies you have. We all want you kids to have great Journeys."

Not _all_. Valeria had to smile, though. It was rare to meet grownups that nice.

She left Geodude with Joy. Her training would have to wait for the afternoon.

She smiled again, Eeveevee on her back with her paws on her head, for the picture session. Ann was crouched next to her, shaking both from laughter and Espeon's weight on her own head.

"We'll get golden threads around our pictures too, later," Ann promised.

Her purple eyes lingered on the trainer-pictures as they exited, something hungry Valeria couldn't name lurking inside them. Something Valeria hadn't expected to see when they'd begun journeying.

She desperately hoped it wouldn't be anything _bad_.

Oo*oOo*oO

Espeon crouched, her eyes narrowed at the pokeball.

Valeria pressed on the button, her heart thudding in anticipation.

Geodude appeared in a cloud of white energy, fists balled and teeth bared.

"Geodude –" The rock-type had her back to Valeria. She headed straight for Espeon. "Wait, no!"

"Espeon, ready Iron Tail," Ann called.

"Geodude, back off!"

Valeria might as well have been talking to an actual stone. The pokemon had become a blur, arms wrapped around herself, energy swirling, ready for the attack.

"Recall her, _now_ ," Seth snapped.

Valeria fumbled with her pokeball. Finally Geodude vanished in a flash of red. _What if she breaks out? What if she's too mad?_ Valeria let the ball drop to the ground in sudden fear, not wanting it to burst in her face.

Espeon growled. Valeria didn't need Ann to hear the _'I told you so.'_ The _'get rid of her.'_

Pokemon weren't meant to make you feel _powerless_. "Now what? She won't even give me a chance to talk."

"Pick that ball out and let her out. If she attacks again, ball her. Do it until she stops. Talk when she does, and use small words."

"She's got a personality, she knows moves," Ann said with an encouraging smile. "You just have to show you're serious about this."

Feeling a bit more confident, Valeria picked up her pokeball.

The second time, Geodude didn't leave. Instead she stared squarely at Valeria. Valeria smiled in relief and opened her mouth.

A clenched stone-fist headed straight for her.

 _Catch!_ Valeria ducked, waving the pokeball in a panic until her thumb found the button and Geodude vanished.

"Is that normal," Ann said, worried, "or should we free her?"

Valeria's cheeks burned.

Seth snorted. "Not all pokemon can be your _friends_. Pokemon species like geodude, they don't get 'friend'. They get alpha and beta. They get _listening to the boss_. If you want a geodude, you've got to be the boss."

"You could have just said 'it's normal'," Valeria snapped, her knuckles white around her pokeball.

 _If Geodude wanted to play hardball, she'd play._

Again, she freed Geodude. "Drop your fists by your side," she shouted.

Five seconds later, Geodude was back in her ball.

"V, wait, she didn't-"

Ann was frowning at her.

 _Seth had said boss, she –_ "No attacking me isn't good enough," Valeria explained. "I want her to obey."

"Again," Seth urged. "The faster she learns, the quicker we can have fun."

Valeria took a deep breath.

She didn't shout this time. She kept her voice firm. _Useless_. The third time, Geodude tried to attack her, the fourth, the pokemon tried to flee.

"If she wants to leave, you should let her," Ann pointed out, crouched next to Espeon.

Valeria's lips twisted. Machop and Skarmory were so _perfect_. _Why?_

Ann was right, though. Valeria freed Geodude, _again_ , and let her dash away.

Geodude zoomed off like dragonite had said he wanted to eat a rock. She suddenly stopped dead, some twenty yards away.

"You won't ever become stronger, acting like this," Valeria called.

Geodude dropped to the ground and grabbed a rock.

"Drop the rock!" Valeria raised her pokeball. "If you want to leave, fine. If you stay, though, I'm your alpha."

Geodude held the rock in front of her, without lifting it, her eyes darting all around her. She turned to Espeon, still not lifting the rock.

Catch, it had better not be such a circus every time she caught a new pokemon.

"You'll battle Espeon, and everyone else. If you want to stop, say stop. You can't grow stronger if you're fainted. Now, you _drop_ that rock!"

Geo finally dropped the rock, her eyes still suspicious as she hovered over it.

"Geo?" The pokemon raised her fist at Espeon.

"Come back here, we'll make space for you two to battle." Valeria kept her pokeball close even when Geodude finally obeyed. "When I say 'stop', Geo, you _stop_ ," she stressed.

A few minutes later, Valeria thought she had won. Geo rolled towards Espeon at incredible speed. Espeon glowed silver, her tails raised to parry.

 _And was thrown back_. Espeon crashed down, a blur of purple fur, and struggled to bounce back to her feet. Geo was _stronger_ , much stronger.

Geo cackled with glee, her large hands cupped before her and gathering an orb of orange energy.

"Back, Geo," Valeria called. Geodude kept going. "I said back!"

Valeria raised her pokeball, grinding her teeth, but her eyes fell to the stiff furball next to her.

"Eevee, Tackle," she decided.

Eeveevee sped off like her leash had been cut.

Valeria balled Geodude before she could recover from the blow. She took a deep breath and hooked the ball to her belt. "Time out. I'll free her in an hour."

 _Was it time-out, though?_ Pokeballs were comfortable.

She turned helplessly to Seth. "You think she'll behave now?"

"Not being allowed to finish fights is frustrating," Seth assured her. "She'll get it. You need to be more stubborn than she is."

That sounded like a _lot_ of stubbornness. "Should I make the time out longer then?"

"No. There's a pact. You catch pokemon, keep them safe and healthy, and get them strong. In exchange they obey you. You've got to show her you're going to keep the 'getting her strong' part of the pact and not take ages to do it, then she'll listen."

Valeria took a slow breath _._ "I want to evolve her, and to get her strong enough to get at least the fourth badge. How long will that take?"

Seth shrugged. "You're new to this, but I'll be helping at first, so a month or so. It depends how serious you are about training and how many hours you put in."

"You'll keep helping us?" Anabel asked with a hopeful smile.

Seth nodded. "Sure, we can start later today. Espeon will learn how to beat Geodude."

"Es-peon spay! Espay, spay, espeon. Espeh-"

Seth just laughed as Espeon tried to convince him to let her fight Geodude straight away. Eeveevee joined in, eager to support her sister.

Ann had crossed her arms. She was… _sulking_? "Darren said the geos were _scrubs_."

"They are, but Espeon is barely trained and still undersized."

Valeria was tempted to step on Seth's foot just because. Espeon had gone quiet and let herself fall to the ground, her nose between her paws. Seth did look sorry then.

"Espeon will become a great pokemon," Seth announced, "but there's _train_ in trainer. You're going to have to put in the hours."

Catch, did he _want_ Valeria to step on his foot?

"We will," Ann said, with a smile Seth didn't deserve. "Thanks for helping."

"Does it bother you? That I'm keeping Geo?" V bit back a grimace. She really should have asked that yesterday.

"Of course not, just train her well." Ann's grin grew almost evil. "Espeon's going to be _really_ eager to battle her. Seth, what was the move with the orange light?"

"Smack Down," Seth replied. "So that's three moves, all damaging: Rock Throw, Rollout and Smack Down. Neat for a wild pokemon, but you'll better know them inside out by tomorrow."

Valeria nodded, not trusting herself not to sound ungrateful if she said anything.

"Guys," Nova called, slinging her backpack down as she jogged up to them with Growlithe at her feet. She'd gone to get supplies. "Cough up what you owe me and pack these away."

"Seth has more than twenty badges. Who cares if he's bossy," Ann whispered as they went to get their share. "He's earned it."

Valeria blushed. "Tell me you're super observant and I wasn't that obvious."

"Well, I don't _think_ he noticed. He'd have said something, right?"

 _Catch_.

"Seth, what's a golden grubber?" Valeria called after him, putting on her most grateful smile.

Seth handed her share of supplies. "An idiot who doesn't realize trainers aren't called 'owners' because _training_ matters." Valeria tried to forget the bossy and to only focus on his words. "They spend their time looking for rare wild-types to trade for common but strong ones. You see them hanging around the high-level gyms, trying to trade ditto, scyther, clefairy, or, I dunno, a shiny gligar, for top-trained pokemon. Why?"

Valeria frowned. "I think a guy we met at the pokecenter didn't get that Darren was a breeder and thought he was looking for a shiny skarmory…"

Ann kept sneaking glances at her as they put everything away. At some point, Valeria stopped pretending not to notice.

Ann's shoulders slumped. "V, you… you didn't catch Geodude because you thought I was embarrassed by you, right? You wanted her too."

Valeria rolled her eyes.

"I just want to know if something's wrong," Ann whispered, "please. I can feel you're afraid or angry sometimes, but I can't tell why. I thought you were nervous about catching pokemon, and maybe training, but… I need you to tell me."

Valeria found herself shaking her head. She wasn't even sure what there was to tell.

"You can't tell me that I should understand. I can't read thoughts. I don't know if it's me, if it's… Gengar, if…"

Ann's voice had gone hoarse, her fists were balled. She looked… scared. For real. Valeria flinched. She _knew_ she had to say something.

"Gengar tells me nothing. He just leaves, explores, comes back." Probably spied on everyone… He'd struck her as sulking a little ever since she'd not said 'well done' for telling them Rosie was feeling real bad about losing the festival and her journey ending. He said he needed time to 'assess', whatever that meant. At least, he didn't sound like he wanted to leave.

"Okay, so it's not him. What is it, then?"

"Ann, our pokemon are great. Training's great." She forced herself to smile. The smile became true, because it _wasn't_ a lie. Not most of the time. "I'm fine. I… I'd tell you. I… need words to explain it before I can, though."

 _'Feelings come easier than words. Words you have to go find,'_ Dr. Fiori had said.

Anabel stared for almost too long. In the end, she nodded, shyly smiling back.

* * *

 **Next chapter, Talking it Out, will be up in ten days.**


	22. Talking it Out

**CHAPTER 22: Talking it Out**

Ann threw a thick blanket on Skarmory's back, her eyes full of blue skies and the promise of flying. The gentle old bird shook himself to make it fit snugly between his wings.

A fierce grin on her face, Ann jumped on board. Valeria held her breath, her vidphone on video.

Ann suddenly screamed. "Ow!"

 _Her hands!_ A blur of red-stained fingers pulled away from Skarmory's neck and vanished in Ann's mouth.

"Ghosts, I forgot to give you a scarf." Ann shuffled on her bottom, now struggling with her awkward seated position. And pain. Catch, it looked _bad_. "V, I need something I can grip!"

Skarmory's neck feathers were short and round, almost like mirrors. Mirrors that sliced fingers open. A streak of blood made a line where Ann had tried to hang on.

In moments like these, mothers usually appeared. On their faces, the special kind of stern that said 'this was _avoidable_ trouble.'

"Watch it, you're bleeding for real," Valeria croaked.

She took a deep breath. Mama wasn't going to appear by magic. It was _Valeria's_ job to help. Finger cuts always made a mess. It was nothing to panic about. _The first aid kit._ Valeria's legs sprang into action. She had to get some bandages.

"No, Skarmo- _Aaah_!"

Valeria whirred back towards Ann only to see her thrown off the steel bird's back. Ann crashed to the ground, her arms flaying. Skarmory, wings flapping like crazy, scrambled backwards.

He pushed himself off the ground and took off, flying so fast he soon was a silver spot in the sky.

Peals of laughter reached them. _Nova_. She'd pay for that, but first Ann.

"What happened?" Valeria whispered, helping her up.

Catch, Ann's right hand looked like she'd plunged it in a _bucket_ of blood.

"The air exploded in shards," Ann breathed. _Shards?_ "He panicked, V. Like _really_. Why?"

The blood was warm and slick, leaving smudges on Valeria's hand and wrist. She could _smell_ it.

She swallowed. "I'll get the kit."

 _If that had happened while Skarmory was flying…_

"Some pokemon freak out at the sight of blood."

Valeria jumped at Seth's voice. She hadn't realized he'd come. He had the first aid kit.

"Dragonite, get Skarmory back, tell him he's not in trouble."

"The cut scared him like that? But… _how_?" Only Ann would look super guilty after having being thrown to the ground. "Doesn't he eat… bloody stuff?"

"Sandshrew biology is different, very little water, so not loads of blood," Seth said, wrapping Ann's hand in a disinfectant-soaked bandage.

Valeria had to take a step back to give him space to take care of Ann.

Seth's hands were careful and steady. Ann hadn't hesitated to hold hers out. Valeria grabbed a tissue to wipe off the blood on her own hands, her jaw tight. Not that she minded Seth helping. It's that he shouldn't have to. It's that Valeria should have been _faster_ than him.

"Skarmory eat slugma too when they get lucky," Seth continued, "but slugma are basically nutrient-rich magma."

Ann nodded with her _I should've known that_ face, except it wasn't enough of an answer.

"Seth, he threw her off," Valeria said. "He doesn't dare attack Machop during battle, but he throws her off like that?" Skarmory was the _nice_ pokemon!

"He _panicked_. Guys, I'm serious! He was terrified."

Seth turned towards the kit and grabbed the length of gauze. He began cutting out bandages the right size.

"Breathe, Anabel," Nova said, her eyes searching the skies. "Nothing's faster than a dragonite. You'll get your weirdo bird back."

Ann huffed and rushed to Valeria.

Valeria's jaw unclenched as her best friend almost hugged her without arms.

" _Shards_ , V," Ann whispered. "I _felt_ it. I thought Espeon was special because I could, and yeah, she _is_ , 'cause I sort of feel her even when the emotions aren't huge… But _that's the point!_ Skarmory wasn't _a little_ scared, he…" Ann's whispering had once more become shouts. She was shaking, almost jumping. " _Ghosts_ , what did I do!"

Valeria grasped her best friend unhurt arm. "You did nothing, Ann," she soothed. "Trust me."

Nova had a point, though. Darren's machine would be more useful if it detected which pokemon were _strange_.

"I'll do that," Valeria told Seth as he came back with the bandages. His eyes widened and he quickly handed them over. Catch, she hadn't meant to snap.

"He can't have had a trainer in the past," Seth mused. "He has no formal battling reflexes."

"What's that to do with anything?"

Seth crossed his arms awkwardly. "Well… Some people, when a pokemon hurts a person, they make sure it never, ever, feels like doing that again."

Valeria frowned. "You mean abuse?"

"Not… it doesn't _have_ to be, just -" He shook his head. "Anyway, it's not that. He's too friendly."

"It was an accident," Ann huffed, waving her hand, now bandaged and clean. "It's -. Skarmory!" she smiled upon seeing him. "It's alright." Dragonite had clearly _forced_ him back. Skarmory looked so guilty you'd think he'd killed Ann. "Skarmory, you didn't hurt me. Cuts and bruises happen _all the time_."

Skamory was so _close_ to Ann, so much bigger than her, and his beak was so _sharp_.

Valeria made herself to swallow and take a breath instead of shouting out a warning. _Ann had this._ Skarmory was calming down.

But from that point on, he refused to let them try to fly, either of them _._

Ann didn't seem to find it that strange. "It's like Geodude. It will just take trust and time. I just wish he'd been able to explain _why_ he hates blood so much."

Well, blood _was_ a little gross. "So it's like a phobia? That's why he's like that during battling?" _Like that_ was nice for _almost useless._

"It's weird," Ann agreed, "but I want to keep him. He's sweet, and the eevee like him."

She said it all with a real smile, and she still had dirt all over her from the fall.

Valeria vowed not to complain too much about Geodude anymore.

Then again, Geo might have sucked the blood off Ann's fingers and called it a good day.

 **August 6th 341 – Thursday**

"Kick your legs backwards while you're running, Eeveevee, chuck sand in his face!"

Machop had to slow and shield his eyes, the energy he'd gathered for Revenge sizzling out. _Ha._

"Stop!"

"Stop, Eeveevee," Valeria reluctantly echoed, shooting Seth a glare. "What's wrong with making the most out of Sand Attack?"

Seth put on his patient face. He never needed the patient face with Ann. Valeria was _that_ close to telling Eeveevee to tackle _him_ rather than Machop. _If he called her a zero or something, she would -_

"Nothing's wrong. It's clever," Seth allowed, pushing sweaty silver hair off his forehead.

 _Then what was his problem?_ They'd kept to their short-night/big-afternoon-nap schedule, but even in the evenings, it was too hot for battles. They'd walked for almost _an hour_ to find somewhere windy and shaded where you could breathe.

"Using your surroundings and thinking about collateral damage is good," Seth said. "But you need to learn to direct Eeveevee, and she needs to learn to power her attacks properly, before you move to the advanced stuff."

Eeveevee huffed loudly. Valeria's lips twitched. Her smile quickly turned into a yawn.

"Again, _come on_ ," Seth snapped. "You've got to get this right."

 _Oh, shove it._ She'd been getting up at dawn for ages. She was tired, and this wasn't fun.

"Can't you stop pushing, Seth, just _once_? Some people get their badges after just one week, why -"

"Guys –" Ann tried.

"Because they have their _starters_ instead of little eevee!" _He didn't get to roll his eyes at her!_ "And really, _first badge_ is your golden standard, V? Why do I even bother?"

Valeria shut her mouth, or she was going to be super rude.

"If you want to sleep in and laze around, nobody's making you train. Just don't complain when you'll be weak." Seth shrugged. "Loads of trainers are lazy and weak. They usually still get the Second Badge if that's all you care about."

"V, let's take a walk," Ann said before Valeria could figure out how to throw the punch.

"You're going to miss out on getting help from a great trainer because you don't like being told what to do?"

"It's _the way_ he tells!"

Ann clenched her jaw and looked down. "It's alright if we take longer, if it makes you this upset…"

Valeria blushed, left with one huge ball of guilt where there had been anger. Ann had bought almost all her training supplies, she'd woven them brilliant matching sleeping bags and coats, she'd made Valeria's Journey more than just a dream, and now Valeria was going to ruin it all because she was so dumb.

"No. I need to stop getting annoyed by Seth. I'll listen better, I promise."

Ann smiled, looking so glad. Valeria wanted to punch _herself_ now. Who cared if Seth rolled his eyes at her? She owed Ann. She _wanted_ to get better.

"V, have you been upset because Eeveevee hasn't learned a new move?" Ann said. "You can tell she's much better though: she can fight for a long time without tiring, her aim is good now, and she listens to you so well!"

"I know. I mean, Espeon hasn't learned a new move and you do everything Seth tells you."

Anabel flinched. Valeria flinched too and opened her mouth. Her brain wasn't of a mind to make a helpful sentence, though.

"Yeah…" Ann finally said. "Listen, you're not scared Eeveevee loves you less because she didn't evolve, right? Because it's not true."

Valeria blinked. She'd not even thought about it like that. A sliver of doubt wormed itself in her heart. Ann couldn't tell Eevee's emotions. She'd said so. Valeria shook her head. Eevee was brilliant and it wasn't a competition anyway.

"I'm going to apologize to Seth. It's going to be fine."

"Stop saying that," Ann snapped. "I'm your best friend, you've got to talk to me. You _promised_ you would!"

A sharp breath filled Valeria's lungs. She crossed her arms tight. "Fine, I'd be just as upset if Eeveevee had six moves and had evolved," her lips trembled and she didn't know how to stop it. "You're better than me. You're upset that I'm not good." The words tumbled out, as if it had all been crystal clear since the start. "You'd get better faster if you had Seth all to yourself."

" _What_? I don't think that! It's not- "

"You care so much about the rules! The eevee were meant to be together, and you were so mad I let her help with Machop! You stopped freeing Eeveea because it made her stronger even if she was _happier_ free." But at least Ann had noticed that. She cared enough about _Espeon_ to notice. "We train all the time. It's never just the two of us. Training is taking over _everything_."

Valeria clamped her mouth shut, hating her fear, hating how Ann was staring wide-eyed because _how could Ann not have noticed if she'd cared_?

"V, Seth has to go home in like a week. That's why we have to… What do you want to do? I thought… I thought we were doing things right. I just… I didn't want everything that happened to stop me from becoming a good trainer."

"Maybe Seth is right, and _I_ 'm stopping you from becoming a good trainer."

"Seth said that?" Ann exclaimed, a flush darkening her face. She didn't look embarrassed, she looked _furious,_ at _Seth_.

Valeria grabbed Ann's arm before she could stomp off to shout at Seth. "No, no, I meant he's right about the rules."

"Oh. Good, because you're not –". Ann scowled. "This is stupid! I… Why do you keep making me guess? _This_ is why you ran away that other day?"

Valeria's face fell. _She… she…_ "Why do you care so much, what Seth says?" she said instead. "You're always checking with him."

"I just… I don't want us to be the zeroes who couldn't even train their _starters_ to anybody, ever again. I don't want to lie anymore. The guys barely teased, but they know we're weak, V! Nurse Joy didn't tease. We got lucky. I don't want _anyone_ to think we don't deserve to be here after that. I want to be a trainer, a real good one." Ann took a slow breath, her lips trembling. "But I don't want you to be upset, and not because of _me_."

Faced with Ann's wide pained eyes, Valeria's excuses shriveled away.

She took a step forward pulled Ann into hug. "I'll talk more. I promise. I'm sorry I didn't."

"I'm sorry too," Ann whispered in her ear, hugging her back tight.

A few minutes later, she shuffled back to Seth, gingerly getting closer despite Dragonite and Dodrio fighting so fast their moves blurred. Seth glared at her, his eyes going pointedly back to his pokemon.

 _You're the best, and we should be grateful, I get it._

"I'm sorry. I'll be glad to try again if you still want to help," she added, trying to smile. "It's just hard and looks so easy when you do it."

"I know," Seth said. "I swear I practiced very hard." He had a small sorry smile too. "I'm better with pokemon orders than explaining in a nice way, I know that. I'm trying."

A giggle escaped Valeria's lips. It became laughter when Seth blushed. Her chuckles fell over each other. She couldn't breathe. Seth got redder and redder until he smiled shakily too, his eyes big and clueless. Valeria just _couldn't_ stop, though, shoulders shaking as tears squeezed out of her eyes and her knees threatened to give up on her.

 _They were all scared of just saying things, all sorry, and all so dumb._ Even Seth with his twenty-four badges and his dragonite.

"You're brilliant," Valeria finally managed to gasp. "Don't mind me. Eevee, back to work, and it's time to do this properly."

"Vee-ee."

Valeria didn't let Eeveevee's grumbling tone get to her. "Do what he says, so that you and Espeon can pound Geo afterwards."

Eeveevee looked like she was debating whether the reward was worth it, even yawning straight at Valeria, as if to say 'I'm so doing you a favour.' _How had Valeria landed with such a princess?_

"Pokemon don't just listen to you. They see how you act," Seth said, his face scrunched-up like he _knew_ he was going to be offend her. "You can bet she'll learn new moves fast when she'll see you mean all the good things you say about training."

Valeria swallowed. He was right. She'd been huffing about training around Eeveevee way too much. "Why isn't Espeon learning, though?" she whispered. Machop had learned Revenge. Espeon… nothing.

Seth shot Ann a quick look. "She will now."

 _Okay_.

Valeria crouched by Eeveevee who had been staring with a rare focus. "I've been bad. It's time to be good and do this well."

She stood up to face Seth.

"Get to it, Eeveevee. Life's a lot better when you're at the top. Power's not just fun, it's necessary."

As she watched the pokemon fight, Valeria wondered if there was a way to train _herself_. She'd love to have half the confidence and grace Wisp or Lucky had.

Oo*oOo*oO

Valeria weighted the bag of Berries with her hand. Mr. Cinders had given them a ton, and somehow, they'd used most of them. Berries were like magic: a few between each fight, the fat blue ones for energy, the fuzzy orange for exhaustion, and the pokemon could fight for hours. There wasn't anything like that for humans.

Fallarbor was a small farming town, just a dozen streets and everyone had vehicles. It had great facilities though, with a much bigger campsite than Lavaridge. Valeria spent breaks just sitting next to her tent staring at the huge Mt Chimney. She could almost touch the volcano with the tip of her fingers.

Geodude dashed for the closest rock as soon as Valeria had freed her.

"Geo, stop!"

Valeria swallowed back a sigh of relief when Geo stopped mid-zoom and floated back to her. She hoped she'd make it through the day without having to force the geodude back in her pokeball.

Geo had become the enemy in the team without even trying. She never looked as happy as when she landed a blow on another pokemon.

"Today, Geo, you get to show that you're stronger than the eevee combined." Valeria shot the kits a pointed look. "Unless they prove me wrong."

"Espeh!"

"Sorry, _Espeon_ and Eeveevee," Valeria granted with a smile. That overgrown kit was sure smug, but nothing beat the glow on Ann's cheeks.

And Seth looked _fine_ with them battling like this.

"Stop!" Ann ordered. Geodude took a sharp turn rolling away from Espeon, and Eeveevee's tackle fizzled out. "Espeon, you've been taking all the blows, get some rest. Geo, you're allowed to show off one minute longer, but stop ignoring Eeveevee."

Eeveevee flashed Ann a cross look. She had to be the only sane pokemon Valeria knew, because she didn't mind _not_ being the target. She did nudge Espeon away though, when the bigger pokemon hesitated.

"Come on, you don't want to miss Machop and Skarmory," Ann said, sitting on the floor and opening her arms.

The invitation was enough to distract Espeon from her battle-thirst and she bounced into Ann's lap.

Valeria smiled at the scene.

"Veh!"

Geo hadn't waited to attack. Eeveevee hadn't either, though. The thrown rock was met with a mean tackle, all fluffy fur sizzling red.

"Okay, back off," Valeria called a few minutes later, when the two began wobbling.

For the first time, Geo backed off without needing to be shouted at, and her gloating was _almost_ quiet.

"Veh," Eevee yapped, bouncing up to the rock pokemon.

Geodude went still. "Geo?"

"Veh! Veh!"

Ann and her shared an incredulous laugh when Geo threw a very willing Eeveevee in the air.

"Veh! Veh! Veh!" Eeveevee yapped, rolling back upright after a clumsy landing, and running a large circle before running back up to a very confused Geodude.

 _They'd become friends yet._

Espeon didn't look so thrilled, but Ann's hugs kept her quiet.

"See life's fair," Seth said, grinning at Eeveevee and Geo. "You get the mean geodude, but that eevee is going to make your life so easy if she keeps being that friendly to them. She's your first. She's your alpha by default and she's confident about it. You'll notice Geo never even tried to make her life miserable."

Valeria blinked. Seth had seemed so _battle, battle, battle_ to her but -"So it _is_ important, pokemon in teams getting along. To have times outside of battles to bond."

Seth snorted, his eyes shouting _duh_. For once, it made Valeria smile.

"It's a big challenge to go past the fifth if your teams don't click well," Seth said, "and you'll _never_ get the seventh. Now let's see what Ann can do without my help."

It was the second time Machop and Skarmory battled and it was… just like the first. If you forgot the flying incident, Skarmory was lovely, no attitude at all, and he wasn't much weaker than Geo. Neither Valeria nor Ann had ever seen such lousy aim, though. Skarmory tried to intimidate by diving, his claws shining mirrors of death, but then he never _attacked_ for real _._

Machop was offended.

"Hey," Ann said, "don't be fooled by Machop's size, Skarmory. You won't hurt him. He's really tough. We have a pokecenter close if somebody makes a mistake. You'd have to hit _really_ hard to make him bleed."

"Chop! Machop!" Machop desperately agreed, hitting his muscled chest with his fists.

Valeria had to turn around to hide her guffaws. Machop was such a _perfect_ battle pokemon. She could understand Skarmory's fear and liked him all the more for it: with his two-yard wingspan, he made Machop look like a baby.

"Skarmory," Ann said, her eyebrows knitted in a frown. "How about you use metal claw on Geodude?"

"Machop!" Musclebaby was _jealous_. Valeria bit her lip not to laugh.

"She's all rock and water, no red blood at all," Ann added with a pointed glance.

Geo became a lot less cocky when Skarmory clawed her so hard she slammed into a ground like a dunked basketball.

Ann stared hard at them, deep in thought.

"Maaah…" _Oh, stop whining._

"Let's stick to Air Cutter when you're fighting Machop," Ann decided. "You'll just throw him around, no risk of breaking skin."

"Geo?" Geo was shaking her fists, her voice a threatening growl. "Geodude -"

"Go build a pile of rocks and crush them while imagining it's Skarmory," Valeria huffed. "Make it loud, and everyone will fear you."

She almost couldn't believe it when Geo obeyed. Maybe training her wouldn't be too hard after all.

Valeria's eyes narrowed in interest when Seth picked up his vidphone. Unlike Nova, who was challenging trainers in town and lining her pockets, Seth never called anyone before dinner. It had to be Darren and Rosie.

"So?" _One month_. Rosie must have been joking.

Seth moved the vidphone so she could see Darren's face.

"We caught two other males, and are tracking a new bird. It looks past its prime years. If we're lucky, it's a male who had a rough season. Otherwise, we're stopping for the night and we'll get back at it tomorrow."

Valeria didn't groan, but that's just because she was polite. Four days, _twelve_ males tested, and _nothing._

Ann crept up to her as they set up dinner. "I called Dad and told him we argued." She took a deep breath when Valeria raised her eyebrows. "Grandma told me not to be a snubbull, so I called Dad… Anyway, Dad said I was too focused on training. That it made me a mankey."

"Your dad said that?" Valeria couldn't picture Max calling Ann a 'mankey'.

"He didn't need to. He said Seth didn't care that much about the rules. That I felt much more judged than the others judged me, because they're better and know more. He said it's peer pressure. I thought that was about people you find cool making you do stuff, but Dad says you put it on yourself too. I talked to Seth. He looked at me weird and said I just have to _tell_ him if I'm not alright with stuff."

"Seth's not bad," Valeria agreed.

Bossy, obsessed by pokemon, way too good at everything… He was also fun sometimes, though, and he helped them a lot.

"I wasn't sure you liked him."

"I… I was scared he'd make you not like me."

Ann stared. With her hair short, her lilac eyes looked even wider.

"Are you crazy? You're my best friend." She huffed. "Dad also said you've got to learn to share instead of going all insecure."

Valeria winced, a rueful smile spreading over her face as she ducked her head.

"Remember Dragonite's collar?" Ann said in a tiny voice. She was hugging herself, her face and tight.

Valeria nodded, confused.

' _It's like a vidphone,' Seth had explained. 'To tell Dragonite I want him to come. It tightens when I call. He's lazy and loves his pokeball because it's so hot right now, but most of the year he flies around.'_

"I… even in Grandma's stories… I didn't realize how many pokemon just left, V… Because they want to. Because you're not good enough… It's… I'm sorry I got mean. I'm… I've got to be a good trainer. I've got to." Her eyes were much too bright. "But I don't want to be a bad friend!"

Valeria wrapped her into a tight hug. "I'm not mad," she promised, Ann's hair tickling her cheek. "You've fixed it now, it's okay."

A bubbly laugh left Ann's lips. "Ghosts, did _you_ think it'd be all so hard?"

"It's not _that_ hard. We're doing fine."

Ann just laughed harder, her left arm slung around Valeria's neck and her right one clutching her stomach.

* * *

 **Next chapter "One Secret Fewer" will see Gengar come back.**

 **Thanks for reading!^^.**


	23. A Secret Fewer

**CHAPTER 23: One Secret Fewer**

 **August 7th 341 – Friday**

"Don't attack," Seth told Machop. "Move to the left."

Today's lesson was _placement_ and Seth was making a strong point. It was two vs one in a small abandoned field. Eeveevee and Espeon should have won without breaking a sweat. Instead they kept getting in each other's way.

"Espeon, hurry! Get to that rock first or he'll win," Ann urged, her jaw set. "Come on! It's just a burst of speed."

Espeon swallowed the distance between her and Machop. She'd been swift already as an eevee; now her lilac frame was cut for speed.

Machop looked like an angry little kid next to her. Looks lied, though. Machop was dead tough.

"Yes, keep at it!" Ann cheered.

Ann and Espeon had the same problem: training was too easy for them. In less than a week, Espeon was holding her own against Geo. Seth was trying to back Espeon into a corner and force a new move out of her, but Espeon was all 'nah, I got this with what I already know.'

Valeria's eyes narrowed. She _did_ listen to what Seth told them, and m _aybe…maybe,_ she could give Espeon a shove.

"Eeveevee, slow down to block Espeon."

Eeveevee did. She still got a kick out of annoying her evolved sister.

Espeon twisted her body to avoid trampling Eeveevee. Eeveevee stared as Espeon awkwardly regained her footing, and only then did she trot out of the way at an insolently leisurely pace.

Espeon hissed.

"It's okay if you're too slow, Eeveea," Valeria called pointedly, her heart hammering. _Please, please work._ "We can train doing easier things until you're strong enough to take on Machop like this."

"Focus on Machop," Ann warned, shooting Valeria a glare.

Now that Eeveevee had permission, though, she wasn't stopping. Hind paws shakily holding her full weight, front paws wheeling, she swiped at Espeon's twin twitching tails, like they were the most brilliant thing in the world.

A fed up growl burst from Espeon's lungs. The pokemon bolted, her fur bristling with fury.

Machop was ready, ready for an Iron Tail, a Tackle, or even a Growl. He wasn't ready for the sudden blur that slipped under his defenses and slammed into his side, leaving him to kick empty air and lose his balance.

"Stop!" Seth shouted. "And that's a Quick Attack!" He spread his arms and beamed at Ann, as smug as if he'd learned the move himself. "It won't throw your opponent to the other side of a stadium, but it's almost impossible to dodge or parry."

Ann laughed, delighted, but soon she had ducked her head in guilt. "Has any pokemon ever learned anything thanks to a firm hand and kind words? V sabotages Espeon and I get to owe her one? It's not fair!" She turned to Espeon, the cutest grin blooming all the way to her ears. "You're beautiful, Espeon. I need to tape you. You'll fall in love with yourself."

Valeria snorted, dissolving into quiet giggles. Ann could be so mushy.

Her giggles turned into a huge smile when Ann wrapped her into a bone-crushing hug. "You're awesome," she whispered.

Valeria fiercely returned Anabel's hug, taking back all the nasty thoughts she'd had about their intense training sessions. _This Journey was brilliant._

"And what do we say to the pokemon who helped Espeon go stronger?" Ann said opening her arms wide.

Machop opened his own arms. "Maaaah!"

"WAAAAAAAH!" Anabel sure knew how to turn up the volume.

Valeria laughed. She couldn't help blushing, because the whole _town_ had to know they were here.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAH," Machop bellowed, rushing up to Ann.

He almost knocked her down as her wrapped his arms around her waist. He had the hugs thing down like a pro now.

Ann turned to Seth. "How did you know yesterday that Espeon would learn?"

"Watch your pokemon. Don't just listen to them. They notice _everything_." Seth puffed up just as bad as the first day whenever Ann (or, to be fair, _anyone_ ) looked up to him. Instead of finding it annoying, though, Valeria caught herself smiling slightly.

"What everything?" Ann's smile had died and her eyes were widening with worry and… _guilt_?

Valeria glared at Seth. _He'd better start making sense._

Seth now looked super awkward. "Um, well, um, like… that some people don't like training so much... That some humans are… kind of fighting? Or it can just be a way to say they're not happy about something," he said quickly, "and when they're happy again, they start learning very fast." He flashed them a strained smile. "Now that you're all happy, the moves will come quickly. But training's never lost time," he stammered. "I wouldn't waste your time like that."

 _Espeon hadn't learned moves because Valeria was upset at Ann?_

Seth's vidphone pinged and he pounced on the opportunity to stop talking.

Rosie had sent him a text.

" _Breeders_." He chuckled. "We're keeping this up tomorrow. Darren caught a 'decent' skarmory, but he wants to see if he can get better one. They're going deeper in the wilds."

Valeria huffed. She missed Rosie and she couldn't even talk to Gengar because there were people around all day long and she was too tired to stay awake at night.

That's when she had a brilliant idea.

"Does Darren have a map of the nests he's already checked out? I'd like to look at it."

"Sure." Seth bit his cheeks, his eyes sparkling. "He's probably got stats on the soil composition cross referenced in real time with how they affect genetic potential… You know, _breeders_."

 _I dare you to tease Darren to his face._ But a little laugh escaped Valeria's lips. Darren _was_ crazy.

Oo*oOo*oO

 _Finally_ , Valeria had something interesting to tell Gengar.

The campsite's shower boxes were as close to private as it got. Ann stood guard just in case.

~I can do that.~ He was pokedex-Gengar tonight, a big dark purple blob, full of spike-like wisps and stubby limbs. He sounded surprised, in a good way. ~Only _male_ skarmory?~

"Yes, and none of the nests on this map, Milord." The title didn't feel so strange anymore. "Please take the vidphone and this. There are some Berries inside."

Gengar shook his head. ~Solid objects will slow me down.~

"They're useful, though, for real. I want you to call Ann if you need help." Valeria bit her lip. "Unless carrying things might get you hurt?"

Gengar's cold was like a wind in an dark icy cave, not _evil_ , just... spooky until you learned to know better. When he went quiet, like now, echoes whispered at the edge of her mind, reminding her he was _there._

~It is unnecessary,~ Gengar said after a long pause. Valeria wished he'd just _talk._ ~I am no human child in need of supervision.~

Valeria's cheeks darkened. She hadn't meant to insult him. "Okay, just stay safe, Milord."

A wide smirk split Gengar's face. Valeria's breath caught, thrown back to Treecko's theft, but it wasn't like _that_ anymore. Gengar's glowing eyes held something a little warmer, like he was including Valeria in the joke. His stubby limbs grew longer, wisps of… _ghost_ separating, thinning, sharpening, until ghostly skarmory wings majestically stretched out behind him.

 _Whoa_. Valeria giggled in delight.

"And have fun," she ordered. "Just don't touch their things and don't wake them up."

~I would never.~

He was _definitely_ joking _._ Valeria mentally high-fived herself.

She sucked in her cheeks. ~You _can_ make sure they get a big surprised look on their faces when they see fainted metal birds in their camp, though.~

Gengar couldn't have looked less innocent if he'd tried. ~I am glad I have permission.~ The soft words still echoed with an edge of question.

Maybe Valeria would work up the courage to ask him about _before_ after that.

Ann grasped her arms as soon as she exited she shower block.

"So, he's really going? He's not going to prank Darren, is he? How many skarmory do you think he'll catch?" Ann's sigh twisted into a stressed-out groan. "Do you think we'll have time to teach Espeon a psychic move? I've been starting to think up battle strategies against Gym Leader Roxanne and -"

Smiling, Valeria listened until Ann got out of breath.

"Look at you, a real trainer now, with strategies and training routines and a stack of notes that'd make Mr. C dance from joy."

"We won't have Seth forever," Ann said defensively. "Other trainers have six _months_ on us. I checked the Gym rules and you can't register Gengar, he's too powerful. I'll be entering Machop and Espeon."

 _How anyone could look that pumped after a whole day of training…_

Ann looked down. "Skarmory doesn't like training that much. I'm not sure how long he'll want to stick around..."

Valeria blinked. She'd been pretty blind to any insecurities Ann had about _her_ pokemon.

She squeezed her best friend's shoulder. "He likes us, Ann. He's happy to be around people."

A soft smile spread over Ann's cheeks. "He is… I hope we'll be able to keep efficient routines after Rustboro. Not do it _all day_ ," she added when Valeria failed to hide her wince, "we're also here to travel and enjoy, but, you know, steadily improve."

Valeria swallowed. She had to prove to Ann she wasn't lazy about training, or Ann would just find another experienced trainer to replace Seth.

"Have you told our pokemon about Roxanne's geodude and nosepass?"

Ann shook her head, her mind still full of battle tactics. "Let's do it now." She slipped her arm in Valeria's. "Gengar has better find an _awesome_ skarmory. Then the guys will _have to_ accept him."

Valeria's chest knotted tight with hope.

 **August 8th 341 – Saturday**

Nova shot Ann a funny look. "What is it?"

Valeria bit back a smile. Ann couldn't fool a toddler.

"You can tell them," she whispered, watching the words unlock Ann's face like magic.

Gengar wasn't back. Valeria hoped nothing had gone wrong. _What if Gengar had decided to leave?_

"Has Darren called yet?" Ann asked again, her eyes sparkling.

Nova reached for her vidphone. "I'll call him myself if the thought gets you so excited."

Her eyebrows flew up when Darren appeared on screen. "What's got you so shocked, D?"

"Five," Darren exclaimed. " _Five_ male skarmory. Fainted. They made a circle… a sun shape. Like someone laid them out to draw _a friggin' sun_."

Valeria held her breath. Darren was such a big, confident boy and now he was clueless. _She'd done that._ She could affect things for real now.

"A shining silver sun, except, you know, skarmory," Rosie deadpanned.

Nova narrowed her eyes. "Ann, why were you so eager for me to call Darren? Something to tell us?"

"Anabel!" Darren's square face was huge against the screen. Valeria swallowed a giggle. "What are five fainted male skarmory doing in front of my tent? Why did you ask me for a map of nests last night?"

"They're waiting to be tested, obviously," Valeria said, proud of her almost-straight face. "Tell me one fits."

"No," Darren snapped. The image blurred. _Had the guy seriously just shaken the vidphone?_ "You tell me what's going on _right now_!"

Valeria bristled. _How hard was a thank you?_ Gengar had saved him at least two day's hunting.

"This is wonderful," Rosie intervened from behind her cousin, so beautiful that Valeria couldn't wait to grow up. "But V, we've got to know. _Please_."

Valeria took a shaky breath. "The gengar from the other day. He's mine. I…" _This was it. No going back._ "I just didn't want you people getting paranoid about him. I told him to go get male skarmory for you. He did that all night."

Darren's and Rosie's jaws dropped. So did Nova's.

Valeria swallowed. _Please don't be mad._

"He tracked them down," Darren said, incredulous. "He fought –"

Seth moved over to sit next to Ann. "Nighttime helps, and if he's a trained gengar…"

Valeria decided that she liked Seth for real.

"Forget fighting, it's the _tracking down_ , Seth," Darren exclaimed, his voice thick with suspicion. "Five in one night! Did he have bait? Who trained him, poachers?"

Valeria paled.

A muffled noise suddenly came from behind the two. "Gen-gar."

Darren bolted to his feet, and Valeria belatedly realized that both Hypno and Lucky were with him. Rosie had a pokeball ready in her hand.

"Please don't attack him," Valeria begged. "He's not your enemy, I swear."

Gengar was poke-speaking. _Did that make the mind-speak a secret?_ It was so odd, hearing him through the vidphone, without the cold, without the presence.

"The zeroes have a gengar?" Nova stared as if they'd suddenly become important. "You're cooler than I gave you credit for."

"You could've told…" Seth said, hurt. "You have a _gengar_. All this, training, making me believe the most powerful pokemon you had were the eevee... You…"

 _Seth felt cheated, for real?_ Suddenly, the boy with the I-know-more tone and the bucket-load of badges stopped looking so big.

"Seth, he's not _mine_. He's _with_ me. You've seen me battle: I'm barely know what I'm doing! Gengar… happened. I talked him out of doing something very dumb." _Truth. All truth_. She _had to_ convince them.

"He said sorry to the other guys, remember? He understands. I was scared you'd decide I was too little for a pokemon like that." _Everyone was bigger and older than her._

"We'll help you find good pokemon, V. But your team should reflect your skills."

Seth wasn't getting it.

"I want _Gengar_!" Tears were misting up Valeria's eyes _. If they -. She'd have to run away._

"Gengar's the one who warned us about the geodude gang," Ann said, grasping V's arm. "We let him out at night. It's not that we don't trust you. We just wanted you to see he can be really helpful."

Anabel was even more beautiful than Rosie. _Thank you._ Even when Ann didn't agree, she helped. Maybe she'd even run away with Valeria, if it came to that.

Darren exhaled. He looked like he wanted to go back to bed. "It _is_ helpful. Just… wouldn't have guessed you kiddies were hiding a gengar in your belt."

Seth chuckled drily, breaking the tense silence. "And to think some of us were worried you'd be boring and slow us down," he said, sparing Nova a pointed look. "Get your ghost back here. In the meantime, you'll fight against the geos."

"See you, guys," Rosie said. She frowned, looking around. "Gengar's gone. He must've heard you."

The look in Seth's eyes once the screen went black made Valeria shiver. Nova was smirking from ear to ear. _Bad._

"You know, I went easy on you because I thought you didn't know anything. Playtime's over." Seth straightened his badges-scarf. "I have two geodude to evolve. Nova got me six. I won't ruin my reputation by trading less than the best. You'll help me get them in competition mode."

"Of course," Ann said, clearly unbothered. "You've been giving us so much time from the start. It's fair."

"Yeah, but his ominous intimidating speech makes me think it's not traditional kind of training," Valeria mock-whispered.

Nova sniggered. "You'll see. We've got to set things up."

Oo*oOo*oO

Valeria shouldn't have trusted Nova.

"What happened here?" Darren exclaimed.

So he'd found his skarmory. _After testing like twenty._ Valeria let herself sag deeper against the hard ground in relief. She was lying belly down on her biggest towel and just wanted to nap.

"Say thank you to Gengar," she called. ~Darren gets paid for breeding. What would you do if you had money? ~

~…You ask odd questions.~

The chill was pleasant in the afternoon heat, like a cold hand on her forehead.

"Are Gengar, Eeveevee and Machop _bowling_?" Rosie exclaimed with a throaty laugh.

Valeria lazily lifted her head off the towel. Even after the shower, she still had sand stuck in the worst places.

The three pokemon were playing some kind of aiming game with small stones. She smiled, happy to finally see Gengar out in the open. The other pokemon had made a fuss at first, but Eeveevee was fascinated by Gengar's cold aura, jumping in and out, and Machop must've figured he'd look like a weakling if he didn't act like Gengar was just another pokemon.

Not that Gengar helped. He kept dashing places like a gust of wind and making scary faces, so much that neither Skarmory nor big-bad-Geo wanted to be anywhere close. Espeon was glued to Ann.

 _Ghost humor._ V dropped her head back on the towel. "As long as they're not throwing stones at anything living, please let me nap."

"It was Nova's idea," Ann grumbled.

They should have fought further away from the campsite... The owner hadn't liked it at all when the geos chased each other right up to the tents. But luckily, they'd not messed up any of the other campers' things. _Just their own._

"You did _not_ ," Rosie exclaimed. "Seth, you… you _enable_ r! Of all the things to do with six geodude, you –"

Seth wilted as Rosie dressed him down. Valeria bit back an evil smirk. She was so used to seeing Seth so knowledgeable and on top of things. _Served him right._

"… do you realize this is a _campsite_? People come here to rest and recuperate!"

Valeria snorted in her towel. The afternoon had been nuts. Her own geodude had finally shown some satisfaction not linked to pummeling things when Valeria had told Geo she now was special and wouldn't have to answer to her old gang.

"Drill-training works, Rosie," Nova finally interrupted, putting an end to Rosie's speech.

"Ann, tell us what those two did," Darren said.

Ann swelled in pride at being treated like the only mature person in the group.

"We had the geos build some sort of small arena," she began. "They were up for it, but… Then Nova freed her two cacturne and ordered the geos to fight each other. She said the losers would be cacturne target practice." Anabel swallowed. "Except they didn't stay in the arena… They got really scared, and then they got so caught up in their fighting that they got into the camp –"

Sunny's and Snuggles' needle attacks burrowed through the geos' rock skins like it was butter. They probably should've known the geos would freak out…

"You're paying if the owner holds onto our deposit," Darren warned, his lips twisting to show just how unimpressed he was. "Look at you lying about like a bunch of snorlax… It looks like a meteor landed here."

"That was Espeon's fault," Nova said. "She attacked them when they got close to the tents."

"It wasn't! They were out of control," Anabel protested. Espeon was comfortably nuzzling next to her. "Geodude aren't her favorite species right now."

"Nova managed to drop her belt," Valeria added, earning a glare from the tall girl. "The pokeballs started rolling downhill and Growlithe almost knocked himself out trying to fetch them all."

"Yes, thank Jirachi for _Gengar_ ," Nova said, her voice dripping sarcasm.

"Yeah," Seth said, his arms crossed. "The ghost showed up, nicked the pokeballs and was floating above us with that big fat ghost smirk of his. I'll bet he was here all along, waiting to make an entry."

Gengar slowly turned from the game with stones and flashed Seth his best _big_ _fat ghost smirk._

Valeria muffled her laughter in the towel. It had been so funny to see Seth completely panicked. Valeria finally understood why Rosie made a big case of Nova's wacky ideas and bad luck. _How Nova had even managed to trip so spectacularly -_

"See," Seth exploded, pointing with vengeance. "He-"

"He's a gengar," Darren said, sucking the heat out of Seth with his matter of fact tone. "He thrives on fear. What were you expecting?"

"Don't blame Gengar," Valeria warned. She'd not pick a fight, but she'd not let it slide either. Gengar hadn't started the mess, and it _had_ been funny.

They'd had to shovel back all the dirt out of their things. _They really should have zipped the tents shut._ Her lips twitched at the memory of Eeveevee dragging the geodude hiding in their tent out, her teeth clamped on its arm as it flailed around.

 _Worth it._

"Parasect put them all to sleep in the end," Anabel finished. _Sleep Powder._ V definitely needed a pokemon with that move. "but –"

"But it was _much_ too late…" Darren lost his stern voice and grinned. "Somebody got it on film?"

"Darren!" Rosie slapped his shoulder with a huff. " _Guys._ You just don't get _safety_."

"They've gone full soldier mode," Seth said proudly. "I'll evolve them into graveler by the time school starts."

"How is that not pokemon abuse?" Ann said, now frowning.

Valeria flinched. She had trouble reconciling rocks-with-arms zooming into each other as _harm_ , but Ann was right, the geos had been scared into it and -

"Because their default mode among themselves _is_ bullying. It won't break them. They get it," Seth said seriously. "With a flight of skarmory, it'd be abuse for sure, because they'd never act like that by instinct. They'd suffer."

Ann nodded at Seth, her admiration obvious to anyone with eyes.

Valeria smiled mechanically when Darren showed off his skarmory. It did look sleek and powerful and _somewhat_ worth the effort. Ann asked a hundred questions, Espeon wide-eyed and perfect at her side.

Ann fit in so well: she'd be like Seth, some star trainer shooting up to the top, picking fights with the very best and Valeria…

She _wasn't_ supposed to be insecure anymore, but -

"Hey," Rosie sat down next to her.

"Hi, Rosie," she whispered.

"You know that Darren and I have seven pokemon between the two of us. Did you tell Gengar that five skarmory was the limit?"

Valeria's confused expression gave her away. "I-" Her words died in her throat and she ducked her head. "No, that was lucky," she admitted, burning claws digging into her chest. "Ann and I would have come with our spare pokeballs if they'd been needed."

She'd wanted to impress Rosie. She'd wanted them to like Gengar. Instead, they'd think she was a showoff who didn't care about pokemon and was ready to leave them fainted in the wilds. Darren had been careful not to make the wild skarmory faint before he tested them. He'd given them a few Berries too.

"I know," Rosie said, her soft voice chasing away Valeria's bad feelings. _She hadn't messed up too bad. Darren had his skarmory._

"That day you came to us, at the Red Terrace, with a big bruise and an upset Eeveea, that wouldn't be the day you caught Gengar, would it? How _did_ you catch him?"

Valeria's lips thinned. At least she was calling him Gengar, and not _that ghost_. "We did nothing wrong."

A stunned chuckle escaped Rosie's lips. "You are _so_ defensive. You are _ten_."

"Eleven."

Rosie's unimpressed glower had Valeria shrink on herself.

"Lots of things you think are a huge deal really aren't, V, but some things you think are not _are_. If you're going to play outside the rules designed to keep kiddies safe, you need to be wise enough to listen to people." Rosie smiled slightly. "Better a tough conversation now than big trouble later. For example, if someone gave or sold Gengar to you, that's against the law."

Valeria nodded vehemently. "I swear that I caught Gengar myself. It's just that he agreed, so I didn't have to weaken him."

"He's powerful, V, and you're new to this," she said softly. "You're supposed to catch pokemon who want to train, and maybe bond with a few who really like you for _you_ , but Gengar, he's something else and you act… different when it's about him."

Rosie wanted her to talk, but V just _couldn't_.

She started when Rosie raised her voice. "V, you're not taking this seriously! You have no idea if he's loyal to you. It's your license on the line."

Valeria nodded, her mind grasping uselessly for words that wouldn't come.

"Arceus, don't ruin your chance! You've been lying so much for him already. It's going to get worse."

"You've been lying too," Valeria snapped. "You're upset and you pretend you aren't. You hide your pokemon. They're always balled! You've been giving excuses and excuses not to give us your recent video links! What's wrong with being _third_ at a Grand Festival?"

Rosie jumped to her feet, her gasp shocked and sharp. Valeria flinched, her gaze falling to her feet. _Why didn't Rosie trust her? Why did they all think Gengar could never be good!_

Valeria was surprised Rosie didn't storm off. Valeria didn't dare move, didn't dare look anywhere else. From the corner of her eye, she could see Rosie's shoes and those thick tights that turned her pretty dresses into something journey-worthy.

"Only the finalists get a contract," Rosie finally said, her voice shaking. "The rest of us are stuck being amateurs. That means my License expires in November and… and… everything's going to change." She sat back down. "I… I was so _close_." It was a whisper. It sounded like a scream of rage.

Valeria edged closer, going for a hug that wasn't too much hug in case Rosie didn't want it.

Rosie relaxed, a sigh escaping her lips. "I'm happy you both turned up to distract me. It's… I don't want to be down for the end of my Journey. I'm… I'm sorry I've been a downer."

"You haven't! You smile all the time and you're gorgeous and you… I didn't even notice until -," Valeria took a sharp breath. A smile had broken Rosie's lips, lighting up her face, and Valeria knew there was nothing Rosie couldn't do, even if she got scared sometimes. "Those contract people are dumb."

Rosie giggled. "Do me a favor, and pretend the Festival never happened." She cleared her throat and pushed her red glasses against her nose. "Now, you should tell Ann to buy a training bra. She's poking through. Her mom should have made her pack a few. You know all about bras, or you want to take advantage of this to talk?"

Valeria stared at the sudden change in subject. She found herself covering her chest with one arm.

"I'm not kidding," Rosie said. "I had my first period in the middle of nowhere a few months into my Journey. Not my fondest memory of my first year."

 _Seriously?_

Rosie frowned. "You _do_ know about periods?"

"Yes! We had a lady at school, and anyway Mama explained all that, thanks," Valeria stammered. "No, _seriously_ , I'm fine. I'll tell Ann though." She hadn't noticed, but the thought of Seth noticing, or anyone teasing Ann, made her jaw clench.

And now she was staring at Rosie's breasts which were definitely _breastier_ than those… _poky_ things Valeria had been covering up since she'd moved to Verdanturf and who sometimes got annoyingly scratchy.

"You were like me when you were eleven?" Scratchiness was okay if it meant she'd end up looking like that.

Rosie grinned. "Slightly bigger, but I was an early bird. How early you are doesn't mean anything. Nova hasn't got her period yet… Don't tell her I told you." Valeria nodded gravely. "Just tell Ann. It's no big deal and it'll be less awkward coming from you."

Ann just huffed and borrowed one of Valeria's bras since she had none. It felt so good to give Ann something instead of it being the other way around. Valeria later found Ann in the tent with a mirror.

She grinned at her half-naked best friend's guilty blush.

"Yeah, Rosie says we have to put up with another two years of that before getting somewhere interesting."

"I'm not in a hurry, really… And… you're saying Mom's twelve?"

"Uh… Uhm, no? _Sorry._ " Catch, she'd never paid much attention. Valeria's sheepish smile tore a laugh from Ann. "Your mom's got… none at all?"

Ann shrugged. "A tiny bit, but she doesn't care. Had her first period at almost fourteen, so I have that to look forward to. Your mom?"

"Ten..." A pang cramped her stomach. _Oh no, was she -_ Nah, her brain was just messing with her.

"Make sure not to get caught by surprise," Ann teased _,_ putting the mirror away and slipping on her pyjama top. "You wouldn't want to scare Skarmory."

Valeria gaped and decided _that_ was definitely worth giving Ann the silent treatment until the next day.

Which of course was kind of hard when Ann was giggling like an idiot in between apologies still half an hour later.

"Eevee, steal Ann's pillow and sleep on it."

 _Rosie, I hate you._

* * *

 **Next chapter "A Secret too Many" will reveal that things aren't solved that easily. The 'traveling to Rustboro' arc will soon come to a close.**


	24. A Secret Too Many

**CHAPTER 24: A Secret Too Many**

 **August 9th 341 – Sunday**

Muffled steps startled Anabel awake. Morning light filtered through the tent. _Light!_

Anabel's hand automatically reached for her towel. Her knees nudged the pile of today's clothes to make sure they were all there and ready. Her eyes were still half-shut as she fumbled around. _Where was that stupid bra?_

A soft groan built in her throat. She had to go shopping for her own soon. Mom had looked scarily delighted on the vidphone while explaining a strange lady would be fitting her with a measuring tape, and then Grandma had called out of the blue _ten minutes later_ asking if Anabel wanted her to be there. It was just a measuring tape, right? Or were the adults keeping secrets on top of talking about _her_ bras behind her back? She huffed again. She could handle _pokemon_. She could go buy a stupid bra on her own.

Her eyes cracked open and that's when she remembered. _Today she could sleep in!_

She fell backwards on her sleeping bag with a happy sigh -

and gasped when purple paws pressed on her stomach. " _Can't_. _Breathe_ –"

Espeon sat back on her hind legs, her twin tails brushing the top of the tent. She cocked her head to the side. "Speh, espeh, speh, eeee-on." _But you're awake. Now, breakfast._

"Nooo, a few minutes more," Anabel mumbled gathering sleeping bag and pillow protectively against her. "V's still sleeping."

"Vee! Vee! Veeeeee!"

Furry and determined, somebody had a solution to that particular problem.

V groaned and clumsily grabbed Eeveevee in a half-awake attempt to get her off her face, but the kits won the war. Breakfast it was.

 _Crunch. CRUNCH. Crunch. CRUNCH._

Geo had roped Eeveevee into a who-eats-the-loudest competition.

 _CRUNCH!_

Anabel chuckled. It had been rigged from the start, but fluffy Eeveevee didn't care about losing, which confused Geo to no end.

Next to Anabel, V lounged on her back with her backpack as a pillow, checking out the pokedex.

« Seviper look cute.»

 _Cute_ reallywasn't the word Anabel would have used for the fanged snake-pokemon. It looked like it'd eagerly swallow V whole. V, the tent, and all their bicycles for dessert.

 _CRUNCH_.

A towel slammed into the back of Anabel's head.

"It's eight o'clock, what is wrong with you?" Nova hissed, her head poking out of her tent. "Teach them to chew with their mouths shut!"

Why was _she_ being shouted at? Those were V's pokemon!

Lounging next to her, Espeon extended her paw to unfold the thrown towel. _Two snorlax fencing with beach umbrellas._

"Espeh?"

"No, that's not Otto." _Where did Nova even find this stuff?_

Rosie woke up in a much better mood. "Ann, put on something cute and serious. We need the campsite owner to forgive us for the geodude disaster yesterday."

"Not V?" Anabel liked Rosie -how could anyone not?- but V pretty much had a crush on her.

"Your I-feel-guilty face makes people want to give you a hug. I need the guy's pity."

"Or, you know, Seth and Nova can own up and pay the full deposit."

Rosie rolled her eyes. "Loosen up, D. You want me to tell them the trouble _you_ got me into when you were thirteen?"

"I want!" A cross-legged Nova called, hastily finishing up her braid. "Serious Darren, making _mischief_?" Nova enjoyed seeing people squirm way too much.

Darren cleared his throat. "No time, she's got to go speak to the owner _now_."

Anabel turned her back to them to hide her smile. She crawled back into the tent. The black-and-white button up shirt would do. Grandma had bought it, and it totally looked serious.

Rosie laughed as soon as she saw her in it. "You're so cute! You look like you're about to apply for a job and forgot you're not sixteen. It's perfect."

Anabel now remembered that Mom had laughed too. It was maybe a _little_ too big.

"V told me how she met and caught Gengar. You want to talk about it?"

Anabel started. They were just out of the others' hearing range, and Rosie had stopped smiling, her eyes sharp and serious.

V had _told_? Nervous laughter bubbled out of Anabel's lips and she almost melted into the grass in relief. "Wow, I'm so proud of her," she breathed. "She… she's sure she can teach him to be good. His master was bad. Gengar called him _master_."

Rosie took a slow breath. "Yes, that's… disturbing. He _speak_ speaks?"

"He stopped the bad man. His Shadow Ball was so strong the bad man… he… I though V's bruise would never go away." Anabel smiled nervously. "I think he likes V. He tries to make her happy. It's just he doesn't know how and…"

…and messages with bloody _bones_. Anabel's giggle was barely more than a squeak.

Rosie wasn't giggling at all. "Ann, if someone, _anyone_ hits you, you go straight to the Jennys, or you tell a Joy. If it's a grownup, there's no excuse, ever."

"The other people there stopped him." Lars had been trying to stop, not _hurt,_ her, but she'd had no way of knowing _that_. "The bad man was crazy. He thought we'd stolen his…" Anabel frowned. Silent gongs rippled through the air. "… stuff." _Why was Rosie so shocked?_

"Did V not explain well?"

Now that Anabel was calm, now that she was paying attention, her hand on Rosie's arm, she sensed under her fingers, the thin layer of mud. _Guilt_.

Anabel frowned. "What did V tell you exactly?"

The air sharpened. Anabel's breath quickened. _Fear_.

"Well… you know… the gist of it. She wasn't clear on the details…"

 _Ghosts._ "V told you _nothing_ ," Anabel whispered in horror, backing away from the older girl.

"It's not like that, I had to ask, it's –"

"You didn't ask, you _tricked_ me! V… you…you _liar_!"

"I had to!" Rosie grabbed both Anabel's arms, forcing her close and lowering her own voice. "It's because I care, Ann. This is so much worse than I… The 'bad man' was Gengar's master? You –"

"I thought you liked V!" V was going to be so mad. "You _can't_! She'll hate you forever."

"Ann, _answer_ me," Rosie said urgently, her wide eyes inches from Anabel's face. "The gengar _speaks_? Was Darren _right_ about poachers?"

"No!" Anabel blurted, pushing Rosie off her. "No," she breathed, her heart racing. "It… it's V's story. You ask _her_. You can't trick me, it's not fair!"

"I know it's not fair," Rosie snapped, gesturing sharply towards the campsite's reception. Anabel almost had to run to keep up with her. "You think I'm _happy_ to let Gamble and the others go? But it's the rules, the _law_. So Gengar's Shadow Ball hurts, like _really_. Well, then no trainer who's not at _least_ a six should have him." Anabel took a sharp breath. "No, Ann. They'll take your license. You're just as guilty if you know and you let V keep him. He'll get an experienced trainer. One whose life he can't accidentally ruin. If it hadn't been kids he'd pranked, if they'd called the Rangers instead… "

Tears shone bright in Rosie's pleading eyes. "I don't want to trick any of you, I… Gengar won't be treated bad, you know?"

But Rosie _didn't_ know. How could she? Anabel looked down, her whole body trembling. They'd take her license, and Dad would… Grandma would be _disgusted_. She'd never help Anabel ever again. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It –

A gentle hand lifted her chin, and she found herself facing a crouched Rosie. "V has so much time to catch a ghost," Rosie said with a soft smile, "a whole team of ghosts."

Anabel wanted to tell, she wanted Rosie to fix it. She'd thought secrets were something special, something warm that made friendships stronger, but secrets were just another word for _lies_.

~Are you threatened, cub? ~

Anabel gasped, her heart lurching against her chest. ~You were listening?~ she silently shouted.

"Ann? What is it?"

~No. The scent of fear is airborne. I sense it farther than I can hear or see.~

"I'm alright," Anabel whispered. She took a shuddering breath when the frost left her mind.

"Okay, Ann, don't take it the wrong way, but you're scaring me now."

V _wanted_ Gengar. The rules, everything, they mattered, but –

"Rosie… what if had been you and a… a gallade?" she said, remembering how Rosie had looked ready to do anything to catch one. "Gengar's scary but he's… special. He's not just any ghost." And V wanted him.

Rosie winced. She took a deep breath. "He fought for you, against his own trainer?"

Anabel nodded. "That man was really bad."

Rosie's eyes were far away, her shoulders stooped. She looked lost and small and not like Rosie at all.

"Just look guilty for the owner," Rosie whispered. "I'll try to talk to V."

Guilt was dead easy. She'd fallen head-first into Rosie's trap.

Oo*oOo*oO

They'd moved to a nice spot full of soft grass on the outskirts of Fallarbor. The campsite's owner had agreed to let them off the hook for the geodude havoc, but only if they left his property _on the double_.

They'd take the road to Rustboro just after lunch, but for now, everybody was busy. Nova was somewhere in town, Darren was training his skarmory, and Seth and Rosie were _still_ arguing about coordinators neither girl had ever heard of.

Anabel and Valeria were seated behind Darren's tent, hidden from the others. They'd borrowed Darren's analyser, curious about the eevee and all too aware Darren wouldn't let them use his machines.

"This is strange…" V whispered.

Anabel just stared at the screen and the seven bars measuring Espeon's genetic worth.

Eeveevee's bars had shot to the top, not the top-top, but as good as Darren's super-skarmory. Bred pokemon _were_ supposed to be healthy and good, but with all the weird stuff surrounding Mr. Cinders, having proof was a _big_ relief.

Espeon's bar was _identical_ to her sister's and so were their estimated birth-dates.

"V, I think they're twins."

V made a face. "Pokemon hatch. You don't _get_ twins. We never saw twins. They don't even know the same moves!"

"Well, they're still twins," Anabel snapped, struggling to keep quiet. "Eevee are expensive, maybe you can do science to get twins… Darren must know about it."

" _No_! What if it means they have to be taken away?"

"Don't –"

' _be silly'_ she'd been about to say. But Rosie had wanted to take Gengar away. What if nobody listened because they were zeroes and _just kids_?

 _No, not her darling Espeon._ Anabel would tell Uncle Merle, he'd know and she trusted him, but not now. They had to get badges first.

"Is that my analyser?"

 _Ghosts_. Anabel's thumb buried itself in the erase button, pressing rabidly.

Darren tore it out of her hands. He paled. "Did you just erase all the data in skarmory folder? You -"

"No! We –" Anabel shrunk on herself as he turned to face them. _Why couldn't she be an abra and teleport?_ "I… I –"

"My world has _consequences_ ," Darren spluttered, his eyes going from them to the analyser in disbelief. "If you're going to steal and use it, at least use it properly!"

Ghosts, they were stuck between Darren's tent and Darren. And Darren was going to _murder_ them.

"Your eevee not sparkly enough to own up her stats?" Darren snarled. "Scared Seth's going to think you're weak? Trust me, it won't be the _pokemon_ dragging you down."

Anabel's eyes shot to Seth. He looked caught totally of guard.

She tried to stand, but Darren stepped forward. Anabel swallowed, latching onto a petrified V.

A lilac blur shoved its way in front of her, teeth bared and mouth open wide. _Espeon_.

Her roar blasted Darren's face, sending him stumbling backwards, his hands over his ears.

V yanked her upright and the three of them scrambled away from the tent.

"It's alright," Anabel quickly said, crouching to hug Espeon. She could feel Espeon's heart thundering against her ribs. "He's mad at us, but it'll be over soon. It's not… _dangerous_."

"No, no, _no!_ " Darren snarled, shaking his head back in place. "You _don't_. You don't train your blasted pokemon to attack _people_. You do that again, you'll wake up without a License. I swear."

Anabel paled. _No. No, he couldn't!_

Rosie grabbed Darren by the shoulders, forcing him to back off. Whatever Rosie muttered, he calmed down, _a little_. "Girls," Rosie said with a stiff smile. "Darren is stressed out because Mrs. Buzz will want to know he didn't just lazily catch the first skarmory he ran into."

 _Ghosts_. "You can test yours and mine again -" Anabel's voice trailed off, her last shreds of confidence chopped off by Darren's withering glare.

"No worries," Darren's said, his voice a low growl and his face murderous. "I'll just say the kiddies ate my homework."

Anabel could _feel_ it. Her heart was racing but she could _still_ feel the sharp heat swallowing Darren whole. He was going to _explode_.

 _This was all Mr. Cinders' fault! Why couldn't he have said –_

"YEEEEE-HAAAA!"

Darren whipped around. "What the-"

Nova. A miltank. Nova riding a miltank piggy-back.

"Look at this beauty," Nova exclaimed, jumping down and planting a kiss on the pink cow's little nose. "She learned a move, on a _milk farm_. Some wild tauros must have sneaked around at night because farm-tanks are a bunch of lazy walking udders. But not _this_ one. They had to trade her, she was picking fights with everything that moved."

Darren was speechless. Anything, _any_ distraction, was better than facing Darren.

"She looks awesome," Anabel managed.

Miltank was way shorter than Nova, and twice as wide, but Nova's oversized green T-shirt with a miltank ballroom-dancing with a feraligatr made them look made for each other.

"You gave Growlithe to that pretty guy," Seth accused.

" _Handsome_ ," Nova tutted, "not _pretty_. He wanted a growlithe _so bad_ -"

Anabel choked. "You traded Growlithe?" _Their_ Growlithe? The one Nova had styled? The one she slept with? _But wasn't – Didn't -_

"Cool down, I asked his mom and everything. It's not just cause he's hot. They're good people. They'll trade Growlithe if he doesn't like it there." She beamed at her milktank. "She's gorgeous."

"Do you take _anything_ seriously?"

Nova crossed her arms with a scoff. She was the only one who could look _down_ at Darren.

"Growlithe hates more and more being in a ball and he's fed up with competition. He also likes humans, a lot. I think finding him a good family knowing I'm about to go back to class is _very_ serious." She smirked. "You're all so wound up… What did I miss?"

"And what will ever you do in October, with that _gorgeous_ miltank?"

"Ann, V, go tell Miltank how gorgeous she is out of D's sight," Rosie snapped. " _Now_. Nova, go. I mean it. Seth, go with them."

Anabel scrambled to obey. _Ghosts_. "Espeon, come on," she whispered.

The actual ghost was staring from a few yards away, Eeveevee chilling out in his frosty aura, oblivious to the hungry gleam in Gengar's red eyes.

How could V want it, to be friends with somebody who liked it when people fought?

"Darren won't lose his apprenticeship or anything?" she whispered to Seth, guilt clawing at her stomach. _She'd not meant to press the delete button more than twice, she'd just –_

"He shouldn't, but… stay out of his stuff, okay?"

Anabel nodded so promptly her head almost fell off.

"Gengar doesn't know about twins," V whispered as Seth had Nidoqueen _'show Milktank what being a trainer's pokemon means'_ – battling, in this case, but with Queen holding back - "He says he'd have heard people talking if it were trouble." V took a shaky breath. "Nurse Joy didn't see anything wrong."

"We can't tell, obviously. Mr. Cinders would get in trouble. The bad man might learn and find us." Anabel hadn't meant her voice to be a growl, or her hands to make fists and shake slightly, but _ghosts,_ she was so _fed up_ with secrets!

An odd bell sound had them both turn. Nova was jangling a cow-bell, grinning like her birthday had come early.

"Miltank, we're going to mess around with a bunch of geodude," she announced. "I have a _wild_ idea."

Anabel bit back a groan. _Not again._

Seth grinned.

And that's how Nova ended up cycling for her life, chased by six geodude zooming for the bell around miltank's neck. Miltank, unlike Azu, was thrilled to ride facing the road, seated on the handlebar.

Route 114 was _packed_. The Fallarbor-Rustboro region had the greatest numbers of wild pokemon in Hoenn, but still. The arid volcano landscape had given way to grasslands that went to tickle the sea, and its hoarde of young fishermen-trainers. Anabel couldn't turn her head without spotting a backpack and a head poking out of the tall grass.

She and V brought up the rear of their group, Eeveevee and Espeon on their tails. Their mission: catching the geos who fainted. Those nasty rock-heads played _dirty_ , slamming and attacking their way to first place.

"Geo 3, fly higher!" Seth swerved between two groups of gawping trainers, shouting at the geodude who'd almost smashed into a guy.

Two thrown rocks missed the leading geodude and the disgruntled allied geos turned upon each other fists raised. Seth cheered.

Chimes sung around Nova, Seth and even V, and Anabel's laughter joined theirs.

"Get off the route!"

Anabel blushed, torn back to reality. They _were_ being loud and taking space. Further ahead, Darren slowed down and gave them a pointed glare.

A white shape swooshed past her. Anabel hit the brakes. _From where -._ The pelipper squawked and beat its powerful wings, heading straight for the geodude.

A tall boy snickered, holding pelipper's ball high. "It's a shared road, try-hards. You're asking for it. Catch me a good one, Pell!"

Pell had not expected to be faced with a dragonite.

"I try _very_ hard," Seth's smile was stiff and he was growing dangerously red.

Anabel kicked on her pedals to catch up with him. "We should stick to the grass," she said. "Come on. We're having fun." She didn't want a fight.

Seth took a deep breath. "Nova, stick to the grass!" he hollered, squaring his shoulders and turning his back firmly on now slack-jawed pelliper's trainer. "Dragonite, fly up and warn us if we're about to ride into people!"

"Didn't wait five days to show the big dragon this time," V quipped as they hit the grass.

Seth stiffened. "I just get angry when…"

Anabel grinned, her smile widening when he relaxed and accelerated, shouting once more after the geodude.

They grass was so tall it tickled Anabel's knees. Only Espeon's twin-tails gave away her position. Anabel pushed hard to match the same speed she'd had on the Route.

Rosie and Darren stopped just long enough to say ' _I told you so'_ when Nova's bike skidded, and both miltank and Nova toppled over in the grass.

"True trainers don't spare themselves," Seth declared, helping a bruised Nova up with a laugh.

"You said it." Nova groaned as she rubbed her knees. She gave Miltank a Berry, rubbing her back and muttering about being gorgeous and fearless. "Who wants to take over?"

The three geodude still competing were gobbling down the Berries Seth had thrown their way.

Heart racing and eyes sparkling with delight, Anabel stepped forward. "I'll do it!"

Oo*oOo*oO

A _clang_ and then an _army_ _of clangs_ filled the air.

Anabel jerked awake. _She'd just closed her eyes half a second, and -_ She groaned at the lead weight in her legs. Riding in the grass hadn't seemed like much at the time, but now her thighs were marshmallows. Heavy marshmallows.

Darren was banging a big spoon against one of the cooking pots. "Rustboro's calling! Don't you go keeping it waiting!"

"Put a cork in it, Loudred," Nova called, throwing Miltank's bell at him.

The bell missed and Darren just clanged louder. "Nap time's over! We're eight miles to dinner, buckle up!"

"Yep, he's still mad at us," V grumbled sleepily.

"We're on schedule, D," Seth huffed. "I want Queen to battle Gengar before we go."

V fumbled with Gengar's pokeball, a big yawn leaving her mouth. A shadow bled out of the red-and-white sphere and greeted them with an inquisitive stare.

"You want to fight Seth's nidoqueen?" V asked.

Gengar's misty body-head twisted in an obvious _no._

"Come on! What are you hanging around for if you don't battle?"

Anabel winced. Seth's angry words had cut V like a thousand tiny needles.

"If it's battling he wanted. He'd have asked me to give him to _you_."

"His energy levels will melt if he doesn't exercise. How strong is he anyway?"

Anabel shook her head, desperate to get the bad man's screams out of her mind once and for all.

"Maybe V will want five skarmory one day." Rosie winked and V smiled back. _Thank Jirachi Rosie wasn't telling._ "None of them were too upset when they came back to their senses: Gengar must've asked if they wanted to train and breed first."

"Of course," V replied. The fear-spikes were gone. _Thanks Rosie_. "He's a gentleman."

A ball of dark fog built in Gengar's stubby hand, until he had a hat to tip at them.

"I'll get you to battle at least once," Seth vowed, a huge jawn taking the edge off his words.

Rosie took one good look at them and chuckled. "We're not squeezing an extra hour of riding out of these, D. We should just call it a night."

"Speak for yourself, I could ride 'till dawn if I wanted to," Nova said, flipping her short braid back in defiance.

"You're _blue_ ," Rosie huffed. "Shut up and put more bruise-cream on."

"I don't mind riding," V said, "as long as it's on a handlebar, like miltank."

"We should stop," Seth agreed. "You're travelling great, for beginners."

Anabel pushed herself upright. "No, we can go. I can ride."

Darren snorted. "Don't make it the girls' fault. You're not walking straight from all the afternoon's goofing around, Champion."

"We didn't _goof_! I've got my two geos now. The rest will go to the Gym: they always need new ones."

"Roxanne may yet put a plaque with your name on the wall," Nova said, with a big teasing grin.

Seth blushed furiously, but he looked rather proud.

Anabel's chuckles died when she caught Rosie watching Gengar. _Ghosts_ , it was so obvious that he and V were mindspeaking! People didn't curiously gaze into each others' eyes without saying a word like that!

Rosie looked away and started chatting with Darren, just like any other night, but Anabel couldn't let go of the sinking feeling in her stomach.

The first stars had barely appeared as they wriggled into their sleeping bags. But Eevee and Espeon were already fast asleep, and Anabel knew she wouldn't last long.

"What is it?" V said. "Rosie's right, you have a very convincing guilty face."

Anabel took a slow breath, ready to smile and say _nothing, I'm just tired_ , and hope very hard V would buy it.

Her breath caught in her throat. She _couldn't_.

She couldn't lie. Not again. Not to _V_.

* * *

 **Next chapter, Jumping Ship, will up in a week.**


	25. Jumping Ship

**CHAPTER 25: Jumping Ship**

She couldn't lie. Not again. Not to V. She was so fed up of lying! But V… V would hate her. And Gengar, Gengar would _–_

Anabel frowned. She had no clue what Gengar would do.

But the ghost had come to see, when he'd thought Anabel had been in trouble. It had to mean… _something_. V listened to him, so maybe…

"Is Gengar around? Can I ask him something?"

"Sure." V's eyes went far away and soon that creepy mind-cold brushed Anabel's mind.

~Gengar, do… do you think it's good, that V and I are friends?~

~Isolated human minds break.~ _What_? ~Yes. She needs you.~

Anabel blinked. Gengar's voice, his appearance, the way he lurked around, lapping up their fear, his _everything_ screamed _bad_ , but he… ~You'd argue for me, if I got her really mad?~

The cold echoes grew loud. _Ow_. ~Tell her, silly cub.~

Maybe V would just shout at her. Like for caring too much about training rules. V would should at her, but she'd not stay angry.

Good people owned up.

Anabel squared her shoulders. "V, Rosie… Rosie knows about the mindspeak. She knows about poachers. And it's my fault."

So she told everything, and V didn't shout or leave the tent. V just listened, her silver eyes piercing and her jaw clenched. But except for her own thumping heart, Anabel sensed nothing, and she would, right? If V had been too furious.

"You're really not angry?"

V looked down. "I would've trusted her too," she whispered.

"I… Rosie does care, V."

V's sudden fear cut like sharp sand against bare skin. "She doesn't get to control me, to trick _you_ , and to use 'I care' as an excuse!" she hissed, lips trembling. "That's… that's what he did. I _couldn't_ tell he was bad, Ann. I thought he was brilliant for the longest time. Rosie…"

There was only one 'he' and that wasn't somewhere Anabel felt ready to go, even if it didn't feel fair at all to compare Rosie to V's evil dad.

"She's going to tell Darren. Darren's so mad at us, Ann. If he thinks he can lose his chance at breeding if he doesn't tell… he'll tell."

Espeon was sleeping next to Anabel, so beautiful and solid, her fur soft under Anabel's fingers.

 _What if they decided to take Espeon from her?_

Anabel couldn't live like this.

"We're _zeroes_." Zero, one, two, three… just words, shorthands for trainers. Now it sounded like a curse. "If we weren't zeroes, nobody would say anything to us, V. We've got to stop being zeroes. Then we won't have to lie."

"You'll wake us, Milord?"

 _Wake? What?_

"We should go," V said. Her voice had gone certain. "In the night. To Rustboro."

 _Go?_ "But… what about Seth? He said he'd come with us to the Gym. It's not right!"

Rustboro was _three_ solid days' ride away if they didn't leave the route. _They'd –_

"We'd have to pack our tents, V… We'll never be silent enough."

V took a sharp breath and picked her sleeping eevee up. "Sorry, Princess," she muttered as the pokemon yapped in dismay, pawing at her in annoyance. "It's hot enough to sleep with no tent. We'll say we don't want to have to bother with the tent tomorrow. We've got to ball Eeveevee and Espeon now. They'll sleep better in their balls anyway."

Anabel squeezed her eyes shut.

The world was still the same mess when she opened them again.

"If we're not with them, we can't get them in trouble, Ann. We'll see them again. We'll have more time to think of a good plan."

 _A good plan._ Anabel had no plan, and this was all her fault. So she nodded.

 **V- August 10th 341 – Monday**

Five hours' sleep had turned Valeria's wobbly legs into stiff aching clubs, but the route would be flat and they _couldn't_ not go.

The others had trusted Gengar to stand guard alone in case wild pokemon showed up. They _trusted_ him. Except they didn't.

Bitterness burned Valeria's throat. _Rosie had tricked Ann._

Rosie hadn't cared, about making Ann a liar, a betrayer. If Ann hadn't been Ann – Valeria swallowed. It was the kind of things you lost best friends, and Rosie had figured that didn't matter. That it was all for Valeria's _own good_.

Ann nudged her. Valeria exhaled slowly and tried to smile.

They couldn't use torchlights, not until they were too far to be seen. Gengar was their eyes, leading them across the tall grass through a sea of shadows. Ann's hand clutching hers made it more of an adventure and less of a terrifying blind escape.

A noise, a voice, had Valeria stop sharp and turn. No, no voice, no Rosie or Seth, just her own heart thudding in her ears and tricking her brain.

It was so quiet. Every step, every soft crunch of grass, felt like it'd wake a whole city. They didn't even dare whisper.

Something flat and hard replaced grass under her feet. _The route!_ Valeria slid her backpack off her shoulders. Hours and hours of riding had transformed their bicycles into an extension of themselves. Valeria pushed on the unpitying thing's pedals, a groan trapped in her throat and her legs begging for mercy.

Ann –a slightly darker moving shadow betrayed by the soft squeak of her bike- laughed, the same aches mirrored in her voice, and soon both were laughing soft as they could, pushing hard as they dared, heading into a thick darkness barely pierced by the shimmering constellations stretching all over the moonless sky.

"There, we're journeying," Ann huffed, "and don't you _dare_ complain."

"Grandma's stories did _not_ go like this," she added after a while.

It wasn't _that_ funny, but for some reason Valeria couldn't stop giggling. She shivered, gasping for breath.

~How do people get out of lies, Milord? How do we get people to trust us and not ask questions?~

~Inferiority breeds acceptance. Surround yourself with weaker humans instead of seeking mentors. Or choose mentors among those who have no interest other than your abilities.~ Gengar's eyes flickered to her and _definitely_ smiled. ~Caring comes with questions, does it not?~

His big sentences tied her brain into knots. He was like a birthday present she could stare at but not open, and he _knew_ it. ~I'm not sorry, and I'm going to keep asking,~ she warned. His words bounced in her mind even after the cold was gone and the echoes had faded to the slightest hum.

 _Weaker humans._ Like what, nine year olds? They were zeroes, nobody was _weaker_. Valeria bit her lip. Gengar spoke like a villain. Ann would freak out if she heard him.

~Your masters had friends, Milord?~

~I had many masters. You asked about lies. Not all lied to their friends.~ Valeria flinched. She hadn't meant to lie to Rosie. She hadn't meant to _like_ Rosie. ~Some paid the price for their honesty.~

A small growl escaped her lips. When she had been little, she'd thought that good was always good and bad always bad. She missed that.

~It doesn't scare you, that I could tell on you? Or Ann could.~

"V," Ann urgently whispered. "what's _that_?"

A dull rumble had replaced the silence. The route was _shaking_.

A deep honking sound blasted through the air. Behind them, powerful beams of light speared through the night, casting huge shadows over the now yellow road.

The girls swerved sharply into the grass, blinded by powerful headlights as soon as they tried to look back.

A massive white monster sped for them, its angry grill gaping like a huge hungry mouth. The monster screamed to a stop, revealing wheels upon wheels and a steel-gray trailer lined with small white lights.

"Does Gene have one of those?" Ann whispered.

V giggled nervously, too petrified to move. "This one's _way_ big. Wouldn't even fit in Mauville." Gene could stack his delivery truck and a half-dozen spares in the trailer alone.

The truck's cabin door was kicked open by a leg. High-energy music poured out of the truck, the kind that made you want to get out an air guitar. Attached to the leg was a stout short-haired woman shaking her head.

"Ever been on an eighteen wheeler?" she called. "Sure beats being squashed by one at get-off-my-road o'clock. Hop in!"

Ann had tucked away her bike before Valeria could at least _pretend_ to make sure it was safe. Her own exhausted brain –and legs- were ready to let the woman adopt her.

~Ball me, cub.~

~I wasn't going to forget you!~

Gengar vanished in a net of red energy. Soon, the two girls found themselves sitting almost comfortably on the wide middle seat between the trucker and a man who had the exact same pale blue eyes and full mouth. He had to be her son.

"You're going to Rustboro, Ma'am?" Valeria checked, almost shouting over the music.

"What are you bringing there?" Anabel added.

The woman turned the radio down. Her sleeveless shirt cut into her muscled shoulders. "Yup, Rustboro's Iron Mine and then the loggers' camp in Petalburg Woods. I've got shiny new toys for everyone." _Toys?_ A grin cracked her leathery face. "Machinery. Now, at what time are routes closed to trainers?"

"Midnight to five," Anabel replied promptly, "but we're supposed to ride on the sides and be ready to get off them quickly between 10 PM and 7 AM. We're sorry! We just _really_ need to get to Rusboro."

Ann's pleading eyes would melt the heart of anyone with a heart. It wouldn't be good if the woman got worried, though. Valeria had to distract her. She kept one hand in her belt-pouch, over Gengar's pokeball. She could pretend she was older than eleven like that.

"What's it like," she asked the man, her mouth dry, "working with your mom?"

He leaned back with a grin. "Well, none of my friends' moms let them stay up so late."

"You even get to pick the music," his mom said, meeting their eyes as if to say ' _don't I deserve an award?_ ' "I'm Wren, my boy's –"

"Blaze." the man cut in.

Wren scoffed. "You spend six months agonizing over a proper name for your beautiful baby and then he grows up and wants to be known as _Blaze_ … You've got names?"

"Ann. She's V. You don't mind dropping us off in Rustboro? Or even the mines. I've never been. What are they like?"

V sagged back against the leather seat, happy to let Ann take over. A soft smell of incense filled the cabin, and the music gave new colors to the lit road under them. Sometimes, the tall grass rustled, proof that night was much more awake than people gave it credit for.

"… 'cause beldum were built, see? Pa coordinated the digging back in the day. He made me visit as a girl. That's still possible today, as long as you don't try to catch the workforce in your pokeballs."

"V, we've got to visit the mines. They sound awesome."

"Sure..." Valeria seriously admired Ann for being able to hold a conversation at this hour.

Yawns kept tearing out of her mouth. She soon caught Blaze making big fake yawns at her. He couldn't see Ann's glare. It was harmless teasing, but Valeria loved Ann for being protective. She let her yawns grow even bigger, making Blaze laugh and Ann relax into chuckles of her own.

Blaze grabbed a thin blanked from behind him and handed it to them. "Nighty night," he grinned. "It's three hours to your stop. Don't freak out if you wake up in the trailer. We put the people who snore in there."

 _Ha. Ha. Ha._

Bundled up with her head on Ann's shoulder, Valeria was dreaming before her eyes had finished closing.

 **A -** Oo*oOo*oO

"Rustboro!"

Anabel jerked awake. Blaze's hand stopped her from keeling over against the windshield.

"Last call for passengers to Rustboro City!" Wren shouted with a big grin. "Hop off, you can set camp just there, behind those trees. City's boundaries are just a hundred yards beyond. If you're brave, there's a campsite twenty minutes' walk from here."

"Thank you so much," Anabel exclaimed, fumbling with backpack until she'd slung it over her shoulder.

She grinned, still dazed, as she and V jumped off the truck. _Rustboro_. The biggest city in Western Hoenn, where all the science was done. She was so ready to win her first badge.

Dawn was creeping towards the horizon, painting the sky a lighter blue. Six AM. A thrill shoot through her body as she sleepily stumbled forward, laughter tumbling out of her lips.

 _Wow_ , they'd made it!

"The Gym opens in two hours, V. I've got the phone number saved." V's lips twitched at that, but how else were they supposed to book their battle? "We can sleep until eight."

For the first time in days Anabel felt just happy, and _brave_. They were ready. Espeon and Machop were ready. They'd win.

They'd not be zeroes anymore.

The grass was shorter, the ground was dry and flat, with enough trees it could almost be called a wood. Anabel and Valeria shared a glance. _Who needed a tent?_ The picnicblanket was more than enough.

Gengar bled out of his pokeball when Valeria pressed the button.

"Milord, don't let us be murdered or eaten, and please wake us at eight."

~Is my destiny to become an alarm clock?~

"Shut up, all of this, it's also because of you," Ann warned. "So be grateful and wake us up _without_ giving us a heart attack."

She was so proud of herself for not having screamed when she'd opened her eyes, shivering from unnatural cold, to be faced with _Gengar_ , inches from her nose, eyes like shining blood stones, in the dead of night.

"Wake V up," she decided. "She thinks you're cute." _Nobody was perfect…_ "She can wake me."

Seth woke her up first.

Anabel froze, blinking sleep-haze out of her eyes as she stared at the vidphone screen. It wasn't even the first message.

Those had started at seven. It was ten-to-eight. _Ghosts._

Anabel's head whipped suspiciously to Gengar. ~It is not eight yet.~

Ghosts, he was hopeless. Anabel scrambled for her phone.

Her eyes snapped back to Gengar. _Hungry_ red eyes. He could taste her rapid heartbeat.

Anabel sucked in a breath, stirring anger joining her emotions.

He made himself very small and floated backwards, until he was half-hidden behind V. _Coward_. ~Pay me no heed.~

V's eyes blinked open. "T's eight already?"

 _Gengar couldn't help feeding on fear. V wouldn't want them to fight._ Ghosts, Anabel wished she could banish fear from her life. She decided to ignore Gengar and scrolled up the vidphone conversation. A geodude was stuck in her throat.

' _Where are you?'_

' _Answer your phone'_

' _Tell V to answer her phone'_

' _Ann!'_

Twenty-three missed calls. Anabel's stomach churned. Seth was _mad_.

"Sorry, was sleeping," she whispered to phone mechanically, watching it transcribe her words. "I put it on silent. The light woke me up."

A notification instantly popped up. ' _Where are you? Answer right now. I don't care what your hair looks like or if your voice's raspier than a zigzagoon's.'_

Anabel frowned until she remembered Nova squealed like a gutted spoink if any of the guys tried to get into her tent or talk to her before she'd woken up properly.

~Your escape will have been pointless if you reveal too much now.~

V's hand clumsily latched around her arm. "What Milord said," she mumbled, shaking herself awake. "Don't tell them we're already in Rustboro."

"We don't want to get you in trouble because of us," she told the phone. "We left for Rusboro. We'll get strong, and then we'll be… we'll see each other again."

Anabel watched the words appear in text, and changed them a bit to sound more confident. She took a sharp breath, pressing send when V gave her a nod.

She spent a whole ten minutes staring at the screen while V packed and got dressed, but Seth didn't text back.

' _Thank you so much for helping us train,'_ she whispered to her phone before pressing send.

Seth didn't answer.

Ann didn't know what she was hoping for, maybe an 'it's okay'.

The nothing was like losing a friend.

V squeezed her arm. "You're calling the Gym?"

Anabel squared her shoulders. "I am." A man answered, and just like that they were told they could battle Roxanne tomorrow at 11.30AM.

They'd be _ones_. _Finally_.

Anabel shoved her vidphone in her beltpouch and threw on fresh clothes. A smile broke her lips. She couldn't wait to show Espeon a _real_ city.

"He'd tell you if he called the Rangers to tell on us, wouldn't he?"

 _Ghosts_. "Hey, you said you _liked_ Seth now!"

V's silver eyes tightened. "Sure. I liked Rosie too, though."

Anabel huffed. "He'd better not. He trained us. He won't make it all useless by telling on us!" She took a shuddering breath. "There's a training place next to the campsite. Come on."

Rustboro was metal, concrete and glass. Two to four-story buildings with huge windows, painted in soft greens, pinks and blues, filled the valley, surrounding bigger buildings, factories they had to be, or maybe companies. Those dwarfed everything else, gazing upon the city like proud parents.

There were no gardens Anabel could see, only a few green spots, and a brown one full of tiny tents. "There. That's where we must go."

Verdanturf had never seemed small to Anabel, but that had been before. They were on a hill, but it wasn't high enough to see the end of the city. It looked like it stretched to infinity.

"Ready, guys?" Skarmory might panic, and then they'd not be able to catch him, but Espeon and Machop deserved to walk by her.

"Eh."

"MaaaaaAAAAAH!" Machop roared at the city below, slamming his fists on his muscled chest.

V burst out laughing, but Anabel couldn't. Machop was serious and trying to look strong and brave. A good trainer couldn't make fun, even if it was funny.

"Ghosts," she exclaimed as his bellows died down, "don't scare all of Roxanne's pokemon away! Who're we going to battle then?"

"Espeon, espee-eh."

"Chop," Machop agreed.

Laughter burst out of Anabel's mouth before she could guiltily stifle it. "No, Geo is _V's_. I expect you to root for her, actually."

Machop gave her a look of utter disbelief.

"I'm not joking." Anabel said. "Geo's been helping making you strong, right? She's on our side. And if she loses, Eeveevee will have lost too."

Espeon's tails swished in displeasure at the thought. "Eh."

Machop gave a grudging nod.

It was all perfect until a girl rushed up to them as they were setting up their spot at the campsite. It was almost lunch-time.

"Did you see the guy who just landed on a dragonite?" the girl gasped, before rushing off once more, excitedly telling everyone else.

 _No._

Anabel took out her vidphone, biting back a growing grin despite her nervousness. _'Really?'_ she texted. _'We're spot 103.'_

"How do you know he's not here to shout at us?" V whispered.

"Come on, it's _Seth_!"

Sizzling energy announced Dragonite before he even appeared. He swooped down to them, his wings barely moving. The dragon landed with a thump, raising a huge puff of dust. The rider jumped off his back.

It was Seth, but he was wrapped from head to toe in a dark suit and had a _motorcycle helmet_.

He tore his helmet off and threw his backpack on the ground, kicking off the suit to reveal his usual clothes. "You have no idea how cold it gets when he flies fast," he gasped, his yellow eyes glaring daggers at them.

He set his scarf straight before throwing his arms open in shock.

"How did you get here so fast! Did Skarmory agree to carry you? But you… there's two of you! Did he learn Fly?"

"How did you know we were here?" People were gathering and gaping at them and Anabel was just ridiculously pleased to see him.

Dragonite huffed, a puff of ice and energy shooting out of his nostrils. The onlookers scrambled backwards and stopped being so obvious about staring.

"I told the Gym I was your friend and that we were to meet before your badge battle. They told me you'd already booked for tomorrow. So I called the camping, asking to tell me when you'd come."

"You can do that?" V looked outraged.

"They _know_ me. Rosie feels awful by the way."

V's face darkened.

"You… you're… what about your License?" Anabel said. "You won't tell?"

"That Gengar should be handled by a six? You think they'll take my License for _that_? The only people at the pokemon school who've got more badges than me are _at least_ one year older."

Anabel grinned. _They could keep training together!_

"It's a bit different for Darren," Seth allowed. "He already had a warning and if Gengar hurt you… But breeding's more strict. They need really honest people who don't put others at risk, and it makes sense, right? But I'm not a breeder and I kind of hate you for leaving like that. Aren't we friends?"

Anabel's face crumpled. "We are! I'm so sorry. I didn't –"

"How about we buy you ice-cream?" V cut in. "And smile at Ann before she starts crying." _Hey_. "Running away was my plan."

Seth grinned. "Ice-cream works." He patted Anabel's arm, his grin turning into rueful chuckles. "Don't cry. Please?"

Anabel's cheeks burned. She shot V a glare she hoped was _chilling_.

V was not chilled.

"Where's Nova?"

Seth huffed. "Nova won't be paying attention to anyone or anything for the next three days. Miltank is just _too gorgeous_." He snickered. "She's always like that with new pokemon. So, how _did_ you get here?"

"A trucker lady gave us a lift," Anabel admitted. "Do you know beldum?" She'd fallen asleep before she could finish asking Wren all her questions.

" Beldum, metang, metagross," Seth replied in this best pokedex voice. Anabel chuckled. "Robot-pokemon, psychic-steel types, engineered by man some five centuries ago. Two beldum must fuse together to make a metang, and two metang for a metagross." A wry smile lit his face. "That's why metagross are so smart: four brains. BUT, it means you have to train _four_ of the blighters to get a metagross. Why?"

V cocked an eyebrow. "All metagross have multiple personalities?"

 _Good point._

"Well…" For once Seth looked stumped. "Maybe each beldum has pretty much the same personality?"

"Are there any outside the mines?" Anabel said.

"I read that some of them live in arid rocky places." Seth grimaced, as if that was a load of bunk. "They're very rare… I've never seen a wild one, or even a _caught_ one."

 **Interlude: - Rustboro, Glitter Halls. -**

A man and a woman shared a bottle in the casino, shrouded in a cloud of smoke. She sat slouched in crumpled white clothes, barely a hint of makeup on her sun-lined face, her sleek green bun her only remarkable feature. He was bald and silver-eyed, muscled and strikingly handsome. His three-day beard and friendly smile made him look ten years younger than his forty-five.

The afternoon had been good for his wallet. Company kept him wise. Gambling had always been a treacherous friend. He breathed in, his lungs filling with sweet-acrid smoke. It tasted foul, but the smokers' lounge was a haven for privacy and maybe he'd eventually develop a fondness for his most recent vice.

« It worked, kind of. That's research for you. They're flawed, » the woman said. « They won't be trainable for combat. A neurologist will pay for all the specimina we can obtain. He gave us a substancial advance. »

When the man had learned they'd had found a way to use magnetic blasts to confuse beldum and metang into evolving before it was time, his respect for his bosses and whoever did that kind of science had grown tenfold.

He sipped from his wine glass, letting the taste roll over his tongue. He'd not indulged like this in much too long.

Disrupting Rustboro's iron mines was well out of his comfort zone, but he was a man for opportunities. He was new to this world and they could afford to drop him if he botched the job, but if he didn't botch it, his future would be secured.

Before, he would never have accepted to work for an organization so opaque. Before he'd played the corporate game, going above and beyond, playing good with his superiors, never missing those afterworks… And all for what?

He took a long swallow, the red wine bitter against his tongue. He wasn't a quitter.

Only quitters refused to reinvent themselves.

He'd developed a good nose for the smell of desperation. Debt, divorce, accidents, vice… he knew more than anyone what got people's lives off track. 'The company' valued his nose. He'd found them two recruits in the last month alone.

"Don't break it," the woman warned, lazily blowing out a cloud of smoke.

The man looked down at his hand. His knuckles were white around the glass. In his mind he could see _her_. Every line of her treacherous face. He'd married hoping for someone who'd stand by him, instead he'd found himself tied to an ungrateful gold-digger. She'd played dumb for so long he'd let himself be fooled.

 _And she'd stolen his child._

He'd always done his best by the kid, and she had turned her against him. How could they give her custody? That penniless, lying litwick. He'd done her a favor by not leaving her in that hovel, and they'd treated him like a criminal for it. She'd doubtless slipped in the judge's bed the moment she'd set foot in that 'shelter'. She'd made him a social pariah, cast out, jobless, forced to sell the house. She believed she'd won.

For a time, he'd been weak enough to believed it too.

He had overheard _them_ by chance. An interview with a mighthyena's teeth inches from his throat had secured him a job.

"Ready?" the woman said, leaving the cigar-butt to extinguish itself in the ashtray. She never felt the need to fill the air with chatter. He liked that.

"Quite." Twenty Class-B duskull were balled in his locker, all freshly downloaded from the secure server.

"We'll keep the wives busy," she assured him.

' _Wives'_ was the codename for the Jennys. He'd laughed the first time and still found it hilarious. He was _underground_. He was part of a fancy gang. He was cooler than in his twelve-year-old self's wildest dreams.

"You let _them_ work their magic and move in the morning. We'll pick you up at 9." She took a pouch out of her hand-bag. "This will make your life easier."

"Got it," he said, careful not to smile as he took the pouch. The others took themselves and the missions very seriously.

Class-B duskull were trained for city-missions. Like other ghost pokemon, lore rather than science colored people's perception of them. The eerie reaper, notorious for seeking out children's cries, was many a kid's deepest fear, and many an exasperated mother's favorite pokemon.

' _Keep crying and the duskull will give you a reason to cry for real, Boy!'_ The man smiled at the memory. He'd given his poor old mom too many gray hairs.

The duskull would sow their special brand of chaos, keeping the police awake all night and well into the morning. By the time he got near the iron mines, every Jenny in Rustboro would have a better place to be.

"The last's on me," the woman said, standing up to buy another bottle. She was one fearsome drinker.

The man finished his own glass and smiled. Getting into the Gym's logs, and Roxanne's calendar, had been easy. Today, the name he'd been waiting for had been registered. The last name wasn't right, but a little digging left no doubt.

It was high time he got his daughter back.

He whistled when he discovered seven masterballs and a sleep-spore gun in the pouch the woman had given him. That neurologist sure meant business.

 _Let's go do some metagross hunting._

* * *

 **Thank you for reading, please share your thoughts^^.**


	26. The First Badge

**CHAPTER 26: The First Badge**

 **Sorry for the delay. These have been unusually busy weeks. Thanks for reading^^.**

* * *

 **August 11th 341 – Tuesday**

The red gem pulsed with a warmth that proved it wasn't just a jewel. It was _alive_ , and as much a part of Espeon as her paws or tails.

Anabel sat on the ground, her legs outstretched to give Espeon the most comfy pillow she could manage. She was so glad, that evolving hadn't meant outgrowing cuddles.

"Remember when you learned Iron Tail?"

Espeon flicked her tails with pretend aggressiveness. Anabel grinned.

"I couldn't stay angry at you despite the door. Then… then you growled at that scary man, and I knew we'd beat anything life threw at us."

Espeon did remember, her memory-ribbons swirling with dancing emotions. Memory-ribbons weren't something Anabel had thought even existed. Now she could _see_ them, or more accurately sense them, like a sort of solid light flashing just at the edge of her vision. Anabel had grown in a world of veils, having to squint to see and lay beneath. Espeon wore her emotions plainly, now shrouded in a soft chiming melody.

 _Happiness_ , Anabel's heart translated as the emotion splashed against her.

Her hand cradling Espeon's gem, Anabel listened, eager to decipher the song. The more she listened, the more nuances she caught: the brittle echo of fear, a ripple of searing anger. She could almost guess Espeon's train of thoughts.

 _Psychic_. In the shock of strong moments, there was no doubt anymore. The last months had been such a roller coaster... But in the everyday ups and downs, people locked their emotions behind thick doors.

Espeon didn't. Anabel could feel the chiming contentment of her little one almost as if it was her own. She held Espeon closer, soaking up the wonderful feeling.

Valeria crouched next to them. Her own melody was muted, the dance of her emotions hidden behind a still-shut door. But her heartfelt smile and warm silver eyes made Anabel happier just by being there.

"Ready?" V said.

She wore her magenta raincoat, open all the way down, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Sweat shone bright on her forehead. It was almost too warm for shirts, let alone a coat, but Anabel grinned and rushed to get hers.

 _This was why she'd made the raincoats!_

"Ready!" she exclaimed. "We're going to win this."

Oo*oOo*oO

' _Don't forget to embellish the best bits, even if you get flattened.'_

Anabel scowled at Nova's text. But then Nova teased all the time. Anabel should have expected it.

' _Take risks, give everything you've got.'_ Darren had sent. _'They'll give you the first two badges if you show you have basic respect and understanding of pokemon, even if you lose.'_

He must've meant to be nice, but Anabel sucked in a sharp breath. The badge wasn't some candy from the doctor's office. She wanted to earn it fair and square!

Her hand mechanically went to scratch Espeon between her ears. _We'll win this._ Ambition mirroring her own burned bright in Espeon's eyes.

"You won't have to hang around with zeroes ever again after today," she hissed in the vidphone as it transcribed her words to text. She added a smiley face, because at least Darren didn't sound mad at them anymore.

' _Yeah, yeah, you'll become sixes before we know it. Tiny sixes.'_

Anabel raised her chin and blushed when she realized she was on her tiptoes, glaring at the vidphone screen. Luckily neither Seth nor V had seen.

She had to win, they'd never let her live it down if she didn't.

"Come on, Espeon," she said, heading off with pride as much pride as she could muster. Tiny but _solemn_. Absolutely solemn.

And sweating hard under her raincoat because she'd not thought to make her and V matching _summer's_ clothes.

Oo*oOo*oO

There was an odd feel of déjà-vu as the three of them headed towards the Gym.

Rustboro Gym was just out of town; a huge mound of rocks standing in a dusty field sprinkled with palm trees that got huger with every step. A long paved stone path led to the Gym's large double-gates. Anabel felt like she'd been sucked inside a poster, or maybe a TV program. Rustboro Gym was the Journey's symbol, and those very stones had been walked by thousands of trainers just like them, who'd all had stories and trials and everything still to prove.

Anabel couldn't believe it had been less than a year since she'd turned ten. November was a lifetime ago. She'd met V and almost lost her. She'd lost Torchic and all her plans had gone up in smoke, then she'd gained Eeveea and Seth and his friends, and they'd pulled her into the world of real trainers, something more exciting than she'd ever imagined. She'd almost lost V again, but they'd fixed it. That's what best friends did.

Anabel had cut her hair short because she didn't feel like the girl who'd left. That girl had felt ready but she'd known nothing. Eeveea understood better than anyone: she'd been a pet and had become a warrior, _Espeon_.

V squeezed her hand and Anabel beamed. _They'd made it. They were finally doing things right._

Anabel's first thought when she entered the Gym wasn't for Espeon, or Machop, or even her strategy. Abruptly faced with a smiling Gym Leader Roxanne, Anabel felt a stab of self-consciousness.

Roxanne was awesome. Everybody knew that. Seth had made sure they didn't think it was just TV-talk and that she was awesome in real life. But Anabel hadn't expected her to be so… _pretty_. Her silky brown hair was crafted in twin elegant bows tied together with a large red ribbon. Her waist-hugging dark dress flared mid-thigh, baring long legs covered by red tights, which finished in shoes you could run in, but which were still pretty.

Anabel's lucky magenta raincoat didn't feel so lucky as much as mismatched now, and neither her big (comfortable!) travel shoes, nor her wide trousers would ever impress. Anabel stiffened not to squirm. Two weeks ago, she'd not have cared, but now she'd cut her hair willingly. She'd _chosen_ her appearance.

And she looked… Roxanne would never even remember her name.

"Welcome to Rustboro Gym," Roxanne said with an easy smile. She was still very much a grownup, and Anabel very much a kid. Anabel tried to stand taller. "The Gym works in partnership with the Pokemon Trainer Institute. Every battle is recorded and you'll get a copy of your videos at the end."

Anabel nodded, too nervous to find something smart to say. She'd not expected such a big audience. There had to be at least six students. They were older than her and probably had won the first badge ages ago. They were here to judge, to analyse, to become teachers themselves maybe… And there were _cameras_. If she made a fool of herself, everyone would know, _forever_.

Roxanne's smile broadened. "I doubt _you_ need to take notes anymore, Seth."

"Teacher, a wise man can learn something in every situation," Seth replied brightly. "A wise lady told me that."

Roxanne chuckled, a sigh escaping her lips. "They grow up, and they can think they can flirt with you."

Two red splotches darkened Seth's cheeks and he looked suddenly fascinated by the arena.

Anabel looked down, embarrassed for him. She frowned at the ground. _Seth had come for them, right? Or just to see Roxanne?_

Seth cleared his throat. "Ann's got an excellent feel for pokemon and she's met every challenge I threw her. You don't have to go easy on her, Teacher."

He flashed Anabel a smile and she grinned, overflowing with gratitude. She'd never have made it without him. Who cared about clothes? Roxanne would see Espeon battle, and that would be enough.

"Valeria thinks fast and might surprise you. She's got her own ideas about what's interesting in a pokemon-trainer relationship."

V side-eyed him, but it was so true and not just because of Gengar.

They ran to take their places on the battlefield. Everyone had already seen Roxanne and the rocky indoors on TV, but the boulders were so _huge_ from up close.

"Aren't you warm? Your coats are pretty, but you must be melting."

Anabel was, but one look at V and she kept the coat on. "I made them, special for the Journey."

Roxanne looked like she understood. "There are things more important than comfort," she allowed. "But have a drink before starting. I don't want you to feel ill."

The Gym had _iced_ drinks. Anabel drank two whole glasses and sighed in happy relief. "It's going to be hard to think of her as an enemy..."

"Just think of how much teasing we'll have to put up with if we lose," V muttered.

That did it. No way she'd be disappointing Seth and the others. Anabel squeezed V's hand one last time before squaring her shoulders and stepping onto the arena.

Oo*oOo*oO

Roxanne's geodude was more rugged and square than V's. It spun around fists raised and mouth twisted in warning sneer.

If that's the way the game was played, Anabel would show off too. "Espeon, Love, make sure everyone gets a good look at you."

Espeon stretched and leapt around gracefully, getting a better feel of the arena as if she had all the time in the world.

Anabel was happy to see the geodude twitch.

"Let Geodude go first, we'll win this properly," she said, hoping Roxanne couldn't tell she was nervous.

 _Seth had said she was good. She had to be good. She'd prove she wasn't a Grubber. She was a real trainer._

Espeon jumped on one of the rocks, stretching out and waving her tails at the students.

Geodude spun towards Roxanne, cracking its knuckles. "Geo!" It had enough.

"Rock Throw," Roxanne said, detaching every syllable and now really sounding like a teacher. "Knock Espeon down."

The geodude grabbed a boulder twice its size.

"Avoid the rock," Anabel cried. "Get him _quickly_."

She wanted Espeon's moves to be a secret as long as possible. And if she could be like Seth and fight without saying moves, surely Roxanne would be impressed.

Espeon sped under the flying rock, her fur sizzling with white energy. She bolted, smashing against the geodude with a keening cry.

"Don't let it go!"Anabel urged, her voice already hoarse from excitement. "Keep a hold on its arm!" Espeon had to pause between attacks if she wanted to have enough energy to do damage, but Anabel wouldn't let her stand there and do nothing.

"Geodude, shake her off with Mega Punch," Roxanne called.

"Drop when I say 'now'!"

Geodude's fist began to glow white. Espeon held on, dragging down the snarling rock-type. Soon the white light hid half the geodude's arm.

"Now!"

Geodude suddenly flew up when Espeon let go. Its fist shot out, barely grazing the pokemon's tail. Anabel narrowed her eyes in disappointment. She'd hoped Geodude would hit itself or drop to the ground. Instead, the punch's speed just got it flying away.

"Mega Punch, again."

"Stand your ground and make it fear you, Espeon !"

Espeon's paws dug in the ground and she straightened, unmoving before the diving geodude.

 _Ghosts,_ _she was beautiful_.

Espeon growled. Rumbling sound-waves crashed through the arena. Geodude lurched in midair and screeched to a halt, its arms folded in instinctive protection.

"Iron Tail!" Saying the moves was quicker, no doubt of that.

V let out a whoot when the geodude crashed against the ground.

Anabel grinned.

Espeon hadn't even had to be told to grab onto geodude.

"Rollout, Geodude, get her off."

"Let go," Anabel shouted before Espeon could be caught up in the ball of energy building around the rock-type. "Good job, Love, now Iron Tail again, Love."

"Fly out of the way."

 _What? No fair!_

Espeon and Anabel growled as one when Geodude cracked its knuckles, five yards above the ground, letting Espeon's silver bladed tail dissolve uselessly.

"You're right," Anabel shouted, "running away's your best bet, Geodude. How do you feel about that?"

The kind of feelings that got you to grab a rock and throw it.

"Dodge, Espeon, don't attack until it stops running away."

The rock was too fast. Espeon had to boost herself with a quick attack, jumping over another rock.

"It's a slow geodude, isn't it, Love?" It was a bit of a lie, but Anabel had to admit she was having fun.

Espeon pointedly yawned at Geodude.

"We were promised challenge, Geodude!"Anabel taunted.

' _How does Roxanne keep her pokemon from evolving?'_ She'd asked Seth yesterday. _'They can't stay first-badge weak forever'_

' _She keeps changing them. Students get to train them when they get too strong.'_

Roxanne was experienced, but that geodude was just another bully. It'd get angry and make mistakes.

Like not waiting before charging up another Mega Punch. The strain made it slow.

"Jump away, Espeon." Anabel snorted audibly. "Geodude, act like you mean it. They're laughing at you back here."

On cue, V started laughing, and soon Eeveevee and Machop were also yapping and hooting.

That did it. Geodude was so angry it wasn't even listening to Roxanne anymore. After two Quick Attacks and one last Iron Tail, Geodude didn't rise.

Instead of calling her second pokemon, Roxanne walked through the arena and stopped in front of Anabel. She did not look happy.

Anabel swallowed.

"You didn't need to belittle Geodude to win," Roxanne said. "That's not fair play, Anabel."

 _Fair play?_ "Geodude are _bullies,_ " Anabel spluttered. "They attacked us once, at _night_. They moved past our pokemon to attack _us_. Rock Gyms are always first-badge because first gyms get heaps of unprepared trainers and geodude love beating weaker pokemon!" She took a deep breath, her cheeks flushing scarlet. She hadn't meant for that to come tumbling out, but it was _true_.

She took a slow breath. "It's… well, it's my job to help Espeon fight best. I didn't want her to get hit more than she had to," she said, her hand firmly on Espeon's head. _Don't feel ashamed. You did great._ "Geodude already has a whole arena made to help it, and it can _fly_."

"Don't worry you're special," V told her own geodude, tapping her affectionately. Anabel hadn't seen V free her. "You're the anti-bully bully. Or the bully training non-bullies to beat bullies. Cool job either way."

Anabel had to grin despite Roxanne's stern expression. V's geo looked so smug.

Roxanne's eyes softened. "You are right: Espeon deserves your best. But don't ever forget respect. Would you insult _me_?"

"No, never !"

It hadn't been _insults_. Everything she'd said, _Seth_ had told their pokemon to make them work harder. Well, the laughing part had been Nova… But it had worked! They were all so much better at battling now!

" _I_ am the one who chose Geodude. I trained him, and he was obeying _my_ orders. Besides," Roxanne added as Anabel nodded hesitantly, "upsetting geodude for being what they are is cruel. They can be taught to obey, but they cannot choose and change like humans do. You do not need such techniques to win."

Anabel struggled not to squirm. "I won't do it again," she muttered.

"You're here to learn." Anabel was hugely relieved to see Roxanne smile again. "I much prefer trainers who think and leave this place having learned a lesson, than trainers who will follow every rule without ever knowing why."

Anabel nodded, her stomach all knotted up. Why couldn't 'thinking' get her to do things right straight away?

"Ready?" Roxanne called, backing to her side of the arena.

Anabel crouched, her arm around Espeon's neck. "We'll beat that nosepass fair and square," she whispered.

Espeon's eagerness sizzled all around her. " Espeh !"

Nosepass was way creepier than geodude. It was a crudely cut rock, roughly one yard high, that looked like a face, except it was too long, the features not right, and it had a _huge_ , ugly nose. Its 'arms' and 'legs' were square blocks of stone but they might as well not have been there.

Nosepass was heavily stuck on the ground and it was going to be real hard to get it to budge.

"Thunder wave."

Anabel's eyes widened in horror as the nosepass' colorless mouth opened and filled with grayish light.

"Move!" The air all around the nosepass went… _solid_ , swallowing the pokemon in a storm of energy. _Could it even see?_ "Get closer to it while it can't see," Anabel shouted, hoping she wasn't wrong.

A thundering sound tore through the arena, blasting everything in its conical path out of the way. Anabel winced, her ears ringing. There was sand everywhere and she couldn't see Espeon.

So Anabel ran.

From the side of the arena, the sand was thinner, and she finally could make out the purple shape running towards the creepy rock-pokemon.

"Iron Tail," she shouted, gesturing for good measure. Espeon's ears had to hurt.

"Sandstorm."

Anabel frowned as a huge swirling cloud of sand covered the whole arena. _She couldn't see!_ The flash of silver meant Espeon's attack had stuck true, but if she'd hit squarely, Nosepass would have been projected out. Unless it was just _that_ heavy. Anabel had read about the magnetic field all around nosepass, but it was confusing and Seth and the others had not being much help.

What if Espeon had sand in her eyes? She'd never been bothered too long by Eeveevee's Sand Attack, but this was _Sandstorm_ , with sharp sand that hurt _._

Anabel knew she had to act fast. "Get out of there, use Quick Attack to run faster."

 _Thud_. "Speh ! Espeh-on !"

Ghosts, Espeon had slammed against a rock.

Anabel had to get her pokemon out of there. "Come towards me, Espeon. Follow my voice."

Anabel gasped when two fist-sized rocks struck Espeon in the ribs. _It wasn't fair, how come Nosepass could aim with sand everywhere?_

It seemed forever until the sand storm died.

"Rock Tomb." Roxanne's voice hit her like a punch.

Anabel's eyes widened in horror. She'd led Espeon towards the rocks to protect her from the sand, but it was a trap!

There was nothing she could do. Spikes shot out of the boulders around Espeon, surrounding and choking Espeon who thrashed as she tried to wriggle out. Nosepass was still standing where Roxanne had freed it.

"Growl!"

It worked just enough to stop the spikes from tightening their hold. Espeon bounced to safety but her legs were shaking, her step unsteady.

"You're doing great," Anabel encouraged. "Quick Attack, get it!"

Espeon hit, sending Nosepass reeling back, but Anabel's satisfaction was tainted by the lack of grace in Espeon's landing. Another hit and Espeon wouldn't be fighting anymore.

"Come back to me," Anabel said, jogging back to where Valeria and Seth watched. "Stay away from the rocks."

"Nosepass, Zap cannon!"

"Dodge it!"

There were no rocks around to dodge with. Nosepass had a clear shot.

"Hit the ground! Stand firm!" Anabel desperately ordered. Her hand flew to her mouth as a huge ball of lightning energy shot for Espeon way, _way_ too fast.

Espeon turned to face Nosepass, a snarl on her lips as she braced herself, flattening her body against the ground at the last second.

The ball exploded in a shower of snaking sparks. Many went right above Espeon, but many hit. Espeon screamed, skewered by white electricity.

Anabel bit her lip so hard she soon tasted blood. She breathed again when Espeon stood up shakily, her purple fur sizzling with residual sparks.

"Zap cannon, again," Roxanne said slowly.

 _No, no, no, no!_ Anabel swallowed. "Roxanne, wait ! I –"

"Hold, Nosepass," Roxanne ordered, looking at her expectantly.

Nosepass grumbled, but let the attack sizzle out.

Anabel took a step towards Espeon. "Love, you'd rather fight to the end and risk not seeing us win, or let Machop finish it?"

It was a struggle, but finally, Espeon trotted towards her and nudged Machop in encouragement before gloomily laying at Anabel's feet.

"There will be a day you'll beat two pokemon, Espeon, I promise," Anabel vowed, petting her favourite pokemon's bad mood away. "We'll be so good people will know our names and feel honored to battle us."

"Iron Tail would have broken through the rock tomb, before," Seth said.

Anabel snapped towards him.

"I just thought about it now," Seth quickly added. "Get your head back in the battle."

V squeezed her shoulder. "Roxanne's going hard on you because you can take it," she said. "You're doing great. Knock that creepy face out."

Anabel giggled. _Totally creepy._ « Come on, Machop. Let's make those practice hours count." She was glad Roxanne wasn't giving in easily. She'd win fair and square.

Calmer now, she could have hit herself. Nosepass' nose _always_ pointed towards magnetic North. She should've had Espeon run South and there wouldn't have been any Zap Cannons.

She kept Machop real close to Nosepass, even if that meant giving a few punches that weren't powered attacks, but at least Nosepass couldn't charge her lightning or thunder attack. And this time, Anabel made sure Machop stayed South, where Nosepass couldn't turn.

It wasn't perfect though, because Nosepass still managed to shock Machop back, throwing him six feet away, with a half-powered Zap Cannon.

Not that it'd make Anabel give up. On the contrary, it squashed the twinge of doubt Anabel had about her strategy. Nosepass wasn't helpless, Anabel was fighting _smart_ , not dirty.

"Fight back, _Revenge_!" Anabel urged, a smile entering her voice as Machop squared his shoulders, straight and proud, wearing the hit he'd taken like a badge of honor.

Surrounded in red-orange energy, Machop pounded the impenetrable magnetic field.

Nosepass would _not_ get the upper hand again! Anabel's eyes swept once again the arena. There were no rocks close enough.

 _Oh..wait…_ Anabel sucked in a breath. Big rock. _Big_ rock.

"Machop, throw Nosepass down, just like if you were throwing a rock."

Machop couldn't grab it because of the magnetic field, but like Anabel had hoped, energy wrapped around Nosepass, pushing it on the side. "Make it lose its balance!"

Machop groaned, pushing with all his might.

"Sandstorm!"

"You're strong," Anabel shouted. _He'd worked so hard._ _He deserved this._ "Machop, you can do this! Don't let the sand distract you!"

 _And he did!_ Shoulders squared, Machop weathered the storm, grunting as his muscles shook with effort, and _Thu –UUMP!_ Anabel cheered when Nosepass crashed down on the ground.

The pokemon struggled to get up again, but it was way too heavy.

"Move back, charge a Karate Chop and hit it," Anabel called breathlessly.

Machop beat his glowing outstretched palms against the field and Anabel watched hypnotized as the energy sailed inside, pushing Nosepass deeper in the sand.

"Get that rock there, throw it at Nosepass as hard as you can!"

Nosepass was stuck and unable to do anything as a boulder twice as big as Machop crashed into it.

Spitting sand out of his mouth, Machop triumphantly slammed his chest with his fists.

"Oh _yeah_ ," V exclaimed, beaming as she slung her arm around a dazed Anabel's shoulders.

"We have a victory," Roxanne called with a smile as one of the students rushed to get Nosepass. "Well done, Anabel, Espeon and Machop."

"Nosepass felt much more challenging," Anabel blurted, the sudden melting of her nerves leaving her light-headed.

"I had her fight more intelligently than Geodude." Roxanne said. Anabel straightened with pride. "Watch the videos, they'll help you improve. The stone badge is yours. Well done."

Anabel had won.

Roxanne was holding _the stone badge_ in her hand. It was just like on TV.

She'd _WON_!

A triumphant laugh burst out of her lips. She turned, bouncing into V's arms. _All the battling, everything, now -_

"That was pretty neat," Seth allowed. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"It was _awesome_ ," Anabel exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. Soon he was laughing, squeezing the life out of her. "Don't forget the badge, Ann !"

"You're a great teacher too," Anabel said, flushed as she let him go. She was really melting now, and not just from the heat. She wasn't sure where those tears had come from.

 _She had won!_

Her coat tied roughly around her waist, she picked up Espeon who was jumping around her like she was Eeveea and tiny all over again. But right now, Anabel didn't care about the weight.

The twin thing had made her worry over nothing. Espeon was _perfect_.

"MAAAAAAAAH!"

Anabel failed to keep her balance when the toddler-sized muscle-man crashed into her. Machop stared down at her.

"Chop," he protested, taking a step back.

"MAAH!" he announced, this time waiting for her to be ready before running.

In front of Roxanne, Anabel felt suddenly self-conscious –the way V was blushing had something to do with it-, but no way she'd make Machop feel bad after his victory.

"WAAAAAH," she shouted back, opening his arms and rushing to him.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

They met mid-way, and Anabel beamed brighter when she heard Roxanne's laughter joining Seth's.

Seeing all her friends so happy and impressed was just as awesome as the shiny rock-shaped badge itself.

She pinned the badge to the raincoat she'd removed and brandished the whole like a flag just to make V laugh. Seth –his own badges pinned to his loosely hanging scarf- shot her a suspicious but totally proud glance.

"Now, it's V's turn," Anabel announced breathlessly.

* * *

 **Next chapter "From the Sidelines" will be up in a week.**

 **I hope this first chapter length battle didn't bore you; it sure was tricky to write. I'm eager for your thoughts!**


	27. From the Sidelines

**CHAPTER 27: From the Sidelines**

V chose Geo first. Geodude against geodude. That was _not_ the plan.

Seth shot Anabel a look, as if it was _her_ fault. Anabel took a step forward, maybe stress had made V forget she was supposed to fight with Eeveevee first.

She was yanked backwards by Seth's hand on her arm.

"Her battle," he whispered. "It's hard," he admitted, his face scrunched up like he had a stomach ache, "but you mustn't talk to her except to cheer her on."

Anabel swallowed. Valeria had never really cared that much. _What if…_ Anabel shook herself. Seth was right, it was V's battle. Anabel's job was just to watch.

The two geodude faced each other, making horrible mean faces as they cracked their knuckles.

 _Ghosts_ , she'd never felt so… _useless_. Anabel put her hand on Espeon's head, glad for the warmth. Espeon sat so straight and focused, it felt so silly to be twitchy. But with V down there, it was like Anabel hadn't won the badge quite yet. Not completely.

Geo didn't know if she was supposed to hover left or right, to take her time or to go fast. Roxanne's new geodude was the same. The whole battle felt awkward and stiff.

Anabel's own battle had felt so _fast_.

"Mirror it, Geo. You're not having fun like this," V called after a few minutes. "Whatever it does, do it too, and just hit harder. You want this more, go get that victory. If it tries to punch, smack it down!"

"Lazy much?" Seth whispered, just low enough for Anabel to hear.

Anabel bit back a small smile. It wasn't a _bad_ tactic.

Anabel ducked instinctively when two thrown rocks slammed into each other with an ugly _crack_. Soon, rocks were forgotten and the geodude hovered around each others, fists shining bright.

 _WHAM. CRACK!_

Both went flying backwards, but only Roxanne's geodude crashed into the ground, swallowed in a puff of dirt and dust.

Anabel grinned. Training really did make them stronger. Against the near-wild geodude, Geo stood her own without breaking a sweat.

"Brilliant, Geo, do that again," V cheered. "You're the alpha, prove it!"

Anabel's eyes narrowed. How was that different than taunting the other pokemon? And why wasn't Roxanne encouraging her pokemon? She turned to Seth and asked.

"It's first badge. Encouraging your pokemon is _supposed_ to give you a clear edge. It's fair to give trainers who get that an advantage."

 _CRACK!_

Anabel winced _._ Roxanne's geodude had grabbed Geo's rock out of her arms and slammed it in Geo's face, throwing her back. Anabel turned to Seth. "Do you think that-"

"Geo," V shouted, now sounding furious. "One step closer to her and I'm balling you!"

Anabel spun back to the battle. Geodude, fist raised and rocky-teeth bared, was going for _Roxanne_.

"You don't attack people!" V shouted. "Go poke that geo's eyes out if you're angry, but no attacking people!"

Geodude spun away from Roxanne, who was now frowning deeply. Anabel watched in horror as Geo sped off, her fingers outstretched determined to go… poke.

"Pokemon are pretty literal," Seth pointed out. He was blushing.

A spike of defensiveness shot through Anabel. "I think she's doing great. Geo's stubborn."

"Yeah," V snapped at Seth, "and Geo was around when Roxanne said the trainer is responsible for the pokemon's actions," V took a deep breath and focused back on Geo. "Make it catch you, Geo, fly up as fast as you can."

"Follow it," Roxanne said.

Seth was wringing his hands. "She's humoring V," he whispered. "I hope your friend has a plan."

' _My' friend. Our friend, thank you very much._ Anabel keep her arms pretend-relaxed by her sides. It'd be disloyal to look nervous.

"Geo, stop," V shouted when Geo was almost touching the ceiling. "Smack Down!"

Geo dived on top of the other rock-type in a shower of orange sparks.

Roxanne's geodude crashed so hard on the ground it bounced.

"I should have seen that coming," Roxanne said with a rueful smile. "Nosepass, I choose you."

"That's okay then?" Anabel whispered. "It still counts as a win?"

Seth made a weird noise, his eyes crinkling as he tried to swallow a snorlax-sized laugh.

"Relax, Ann. I thought _I_ got too involved in others' fights, but you look like you're going to die. Of course it's a win. Any half-caring trainer who proves they can get a pokemon to listen and fight for three minutes straight gets the First Badge. Can't you see how strong Geo was compared to that scrub? I've been preparing you with the Third in mind." He grinned at her expression. "Darren wouldn't have teased so bad if he wasn't sure you'd win! We've been power training for over a week!"

The stupid relieved smile splitting Anabel's cheeks only grew. "So it's not bad that V used geo first?"

Seth darkened. "She's sure making her life harder. Eeveevee was actively trying _not_ to learn a new move. She caught on that V was hostile to training, at least until you two stopped fighting."

"You noticed?" Of course he had. He'd told her even _Espeon_ had noticed.

"Not at first, Nova told me. I told Rosie because she gets people better. She said that unless it got too bad, you had to figure it out on your own." He shrugged."It's no big deal. Eeveevee's Tackle is way ahead of the curve."

"But why didn't you tell me that Espeon wasn't learning because she was upset at me!"

"That's how our teachers do it at school. We have to learn to get our pokemon. Nobody can do it for us." Seth looked uneasy. "I'm… sorry?"

Anabel's shoulders slumped and she nodded. _She wouldn't be blind again, she wouldn't._

"If you want to chat," V called, "I'm not making you stay here!"

They both snapped to attention and focused back on the battle.

Anabel winced when the new nosepass started charging a Thunder Wave.

"Rollout ! Go ram Nosepass," V said. "Give all you've got, Geo."

 _What? Was V mad_? Anabel bit her lip not to say anything.

Geodude rolled for her life, energy-coated rocks gathering all around her. Nosepass faltered, unbalanced by the suicidal geodude zooming for him.

The thunder wave collided with Geo, but it was like trying to stop an out of control truck. Thunder tore through the arena, so loud they had to shield their ears. Angry orange sparks spilled from Geo's balled fists and she slammed into Nosepass, rocks and all.

Anabel cheered as Nosepass groaned, shoved backwards a full foot.

"Again, get him from the back!"

Geo wobble-floated back up, gathering her energy in spits and splutters instead of the usual threatening glow, but _ghosts_ , the little rock-monster looked eager.

"Sandstorm," Roxanne ordered.

"Close your eyes," V replied calmly, "keep going straight. Nosepass isn't going anywhere."

Sand swallowed Geo up.

Anabel held her breath. _Come on, come on, come on!_

CRA-ACK!

Anabel's cheer died when the sandstorm fell. Geo had hit, she'd hit _hard_ , but even if one of her fists was still jerkily punching the air, Geo was on the ground and not getting up.

"I'm going to switch now," V announced, as if suicide-geodude was standart tactics.

Seth was laughing silently, or maybe crying?, in his hands. He turned to her. He was laughing, but there was pain in his eyes.

"I hate her," he mouthed. "She's going to make me look like an idiot."

"Time to get some rest and gloat," V said cheerfully, pulling Geo's pokeball out.

Eeveevee edged towards the arena line, her ears twitching. "Ee-vee?"

"Focused and confident, Princess," V said, planting a kiss on Eeveevee's nose. "You're more than ready."

Espeon's tails whipped the air eagerly. "Espeh, speh-on!"

She seemed set to vicariously beat the nosepass through her smaller, fluffier, sister.

V had _better_ beat it!

A hand patted her arm. "Relax."

Anabel almost laughed, because Seth was just as tense as she was. "Don't worry, Roxanne knows you taught us well."

Even if he'd not blushed and ran a hand through his silver hair, it was so obvious that he had a crazy crush on his teacher.

Anabel clenched and unclenched her fists, wishing she could just _unstress_. Eeveevee just knew Tackle and Sand Attack. Nosepass was really heavy and just had to keep rocks flying to keep Eeveevee away. It wasn't a fair battle. She wished V had accepted to borrow Skarmory. He still wouldn't use his steel claws at full strength, but his wings could twist air into cutting white energy, and he swooped through sand storms like they didn't exist.

 _But Skarmory wasn't V's._ Anabel understood. She just desperately hoped Eeveevee would make it.

"Stay behind the bigger rocks," V began. "Throw Sand Attacks from as far as you can. Don't stop, Princess."

Anabel and Seth watched bewildered as Eeveevee raised cloud after cloud of fat sand that shot for Nosepass like a storm of angry bees. Sand Attack wouldn't harm Nosepass. _What was V doing?_

Nosepass couldn't hit Eeveevee, not concealed as she was behind the bigger rocks. It wasn't from lack of trying, but the sand stuck to the magnetic pokemon, covering it in a thin bubble of grit, and ruining its aim.

"Why didn't that happen with Sandstorm, Seth ?"

"Because the sand storm swirled _around_ him, it has no real target. Eeveevee is pushing energy-heavy sand _at_ him," Seth said, convincing Anabel she needed to do more reading. Memorizing moves just didn't cut it.

"Usually, the second challenger has the North/South thing figured out and uses _that_ ," Seth said through clenched teeth. "Sure, it makes this battle a bit boring to study, except when people come with badges from another region and Roxanne goes all out, but… I was hoping Eeveevee would reveal a Swift or even a Bite since she's more a slam type of girl, but –"

"If you want to win the badge a second time, Seth, go register!" V hollered. "I'll even help you catch pokemon and lend you a ball or two."

"You better win, Valeria, since you know better than everyone," Seth shot back.

Nosepass was getting restless, blindly throwing bigger and bigger rocks.

"Ee-vee," Eeveevee teased, dashing away from the boulder as it came crashing down.

"If she was fighting at a higher level badge," Seth whispered, "Roxanne'd have Nosepass stop attacking. The sand would eventually fall off, and Eeveevee would be exhausted for nothing. Roxanne would also have Nosepass use Sandstorm…"

"But this is the _first_." Seeing Seth so worked up made Anabel oddly calmer. At worst, they'd rematch and V would battle by the rules. The suspense was kind of thrilling. "Keep at it, Eeveevee!" Anabel cheered for good measure.

"Roxanne must wonder how V's going to pull a decent fight with a pokemon she shouldn't have chosen in the first place…"

"Ghosts, will you stop it!" Anabel said, a laugh on her lips.

A week ago, she'd have been terrified to upset Seth, but since that talk with Dad, she'd realized he was just like them, just so much better with pokemon. He wanted friends and wouldn't hate her if she disagreed with him.

Seth shut his mouth and crossed his arms, but he was kind-of smiling too.

 _Come on, V! You can do this._

Eeveevee was slowing, her attacks steadily weaker. Anabel had lost count at the sixth Sand Attack and it had to be close to ten.

"Do you want me to do something in particular?" Roxanne sounded curious.

"Uh, Zap Cannon?" Despite V's extra bright smile, her voice came out as a bit of a sqwawk.

Nervousness tied up Anabel's insides. _V wasn't sure of her plan?_ Exhausted as Eevee was, a strong blow would end the fight.

"Zap Cannon," Roxanne called. "She's right in front of you."

"Stand firm, Eevee, keep attacking !"

"Your friend's barking mad..." Seth muttered.

Anabel bit back a groan. "Espeon, go lick Seth's nose."

This time, Eeveevee managed to raise only a big puff of sand which floated over to Nosepass.

The sphere of gray light was as big as Eeveevee. She was going to get hit.

 _Ghost, V…_

That's when something really weird happened.

As the surge of energy burst from Nosepass, the sand all around him glowed red, really, _really,_ _red_. Anabel gaped. The ball of lightning was _torn apart_ by the sand trapped in Nosepass's magnetic field, breaking into a hundred weaker electrical sparks.

Anabel winced as Eeveevee was thrown backwards. She rolled on the ground, lingering sparks sizzling on her fur.

 _Oh no._

Anabel's head snapped back up when Nosepass gave a long hoarse groan. She blinked. The lightning had been _reflected_. The stone-pokemon cried out, trapped in a lightning storm it couldn't control.

Eeveevee managed to crawl back to an upright position, panting heavily.

"One last Tackle for luck, kit," V said, a big proud smile on her lips. "Go, go , go!"

The Tackle was weaker than usual, but it was enough. Nosepass crashed backwards, raising a big puff of dust and sand.

Anabel gasped in relief as a huge weight lifted off her chest. "Ghosts, V, what was that!"

Roxanne was chuckling as she called back Nosepass.

Anabel laughed, shaking her head as she rushed to embrace her best friend. "You were awesome!"

They'd done it! They'd _both_ done it!

Oo*oOo*oO

Anabel's cheeks ached and she was self-aware enough to realize she was bouncing (but who cared), but V didn't seem so happy anymore.

Badge in hand, V sucked Eeveevee back in her pokeball. "Roxanne, I overheard Seth say you went easy on me."

Anabel shot him a dirty look. He shuffled his feet but said nothing.

Roxanne shook her head. "I don't give the Stone Badge to undeserving trainers. You think outside the box, and you're working with pokemon with strong personalities. Just remember that good ideas will soon not be enough if not combined with a solid knowledge of pokemon attacks." Her eyes crinkled knowingly. "Even if learning them can be tedious."

"Strong personalities?" V said, her face politely blank. Bubbling fire was building in her chest.

Anabel moved closer to her and gently grasped her arm.

"Geodude is violent and doesn't understand that this is a _game_." Roxanne said. "Eeveevee has only two moves, one non-damaging, something I'm confident Seth tried hard to change. I would guess that for Eeveevee it's _too much_ of a game."

"I'm not going to get rid of my pokemon –"

"Badges aren't compulsory," Roxanne interrupted. "They're _one_ way you can do your Journey. But if you do want to win the badges, you'll need to accept that a quick mind isn't enough. There's no need to discard any pokemon, but you need to direct them and make them adopt the right mindset, just like what you did with Geodude when she tried to attack me."

V paled. "I'm so sorry about that."

Roxanne softened, losing her teacher-voice. "No harm done, you stopped her."

V flashed the beautiful Gym Leader a tight smile which grew truer when her eyes met Anabel's.

"Well, that was fun," she said, taking off her lucky coat with a relieved sigh. "I've got more work to do than Ann if I want to earn the Knuckle Badge, though. Lunch? I'm starving."

"Speh!" Espeon agreed, nudging Anabel towards the exit.

"I forgive you for turning your nose up at the rules, since you won," Seth allowed before grinning at V and giving her a hug.

V pulled a face but she hugged him right back.

Roxanne had been smiling, but now she was turning back to her students.

"Thank you, Roxanne," Anabel belatedly said. " We'll try to remember everything you said." She took one look at Seth and sucked in a breath. _She owed him._ "If you want, we'd be really happy to buy you lunch. Is pizza alright?"

Roxanne's eyes widened and she smiled. _The day was really perfect._

"Why not," the Gym Leader said. She turned to one of the older students in the room. "Extra credit if you get everything perfect for my 2pm fight."

Seth managed not to blush, but Anabel might as well have hit him with a Thundershock. She winked at him when Roxanne couldn't see. "You walk with her," she said, earning herself a glare that managed to shout both _'thank you so much'_ and _'Ghosts, what am I supposed to do now?'_ Chiming shards… who would have thought terror could be happy?

Anabel grasped V's upper arm. "How did you know about the sand and lightning? I bet Roxanne had never seen that before."

Roxanne would remember V, but Anabel? What had _she_ done?

"Pokemon are super strange," V mused. "I mean, look at TMs. You just load the pokemon into a computer with the TM and one minute later they know a new move."

"Pokemon DNA changes when they learn moves. TMs force that change."

V didn't quite roll her eyes. "I was at the same lessons as you, Ann. I just don't _get_ it, and there's so much to remember. Everybody says physics has rules but poke-energy seems all over the place to me… The lightning with magnetic-sand trick was from Rosie's videos. I told you to watch them."

She'd been busy actually _training_.

V's sigh was loud and dramatic. "Like, what's poke-energy, for real?"

Anabel elbowed her. "I already have two parents doing a PhD, don't you start too."

"When I'll be grown up, I'll know more than you, and you'll just have to deal with it."

"We'll see that," Anabel challenged. She turned to Seth and Roxanne. Since Roxanne wasn't looking at Seth, Seth was staring squarely at her. _Would a boy ever look at her like that?_ But if Anabel were a boy she'd probably have a crush on Roxanne too. "How many questions do you think I can ask before she thinks I'm rude?"

 _Did Roxanne have her own pokemon on top of the geodude and nosepass she kept switching? What was it like, being stuck with weak pokemon all the time? Did she -_

V giggled. "She's a teacher: questions are like candy to her. Go for it, Ann. You look _so_ hyped."

Anabel grinned back. _They'd not told her_. For sure not Dad, but not even Grandma. They'd not told her how awesome it was, to push yourself and test how far your pokemon would go for you. To have to think on your feet and be part of the power pokemon so effortlessly used. To _win_. To watch your best friend do the same.

She'd expected fighting for the badge to be just something you did. She'd not expected her heart to race and to have _fun_.

"You think they have those pizzas with apples?" she wondered eagerly.

None of them noticed the silver-eyed man spying on them from the back of the pizza house.

* * *

 **Phew, well, there go the battle-heavy chapters. I'd be thrilled to hear your thoughts.**

 **The past will catch up with the girls in next chapter, 'Missing in Action'.**


	28. Missing in Action

**Sorry for the long wait. Work is taking over my life *sigh*.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 28: Missing in Action**

It was hard to just walk back to the tent instead of shouting and cheering and hugging everyone. Anabel wanted to call Mom and Dad a second time because while they'd been happy for her, they didn't really _get_ it.

V stopped to take out her vidphone. Rosie's picture filled the screen.

The phone rang, and rang, and Anabel was scared V wouldn't answer, but she finally did.

Rosie was stiffly sitting cross-legged on the grass. The background was white, blue and furry. _Otto_.

"I'm really proud of you two," Rosie blurted, her eyes wide and hopeful.

"You told Seth we ran away because you figured out Gengar should belong to a six." V's face was made of stone and there was no heat it her voice. "Nothing else?"

Rosie's jaw clenched, a ragged sigh leaving her lips. "I still think it's a bad idea, but not life-wreckingly bad. So you get to own it."

V's mask cracked and it was so obvious that she really, really wanted to forgive Rosie. "What made you change your mind?" she whispered.

"Everybody told me it'd be a waste of time to do a last year of Journey. That school would be a pain in the ass to catch up and I'd be the oldest in the class. That I'd never break through as a coordinator because nobody does." Rosie smiled stiffly. "They were right. But they were _wrong_ , because it wasn't a waste of time. It was my choice to make."

"You don't think Gengar's dangerous anymore?" Anabel asked.

"He speaks," Rosie mouthed. "So he's intelligent, no?" Her voice was back to normal and she flipped her thin rainbow braids back. "He's probably a bit of a psychopath," _a what?_ "but it's not the same as feral… Just… be smart too. Before you do something that'll get a ghost-tattoo inked on your ribs, call, okay?"

V's fingers were white around her vidphone and soft bells and chimes sung all around her. Her silver eyes were bright.

"You're not too mad?" Rosie breathed.

"Not anymore." A shy smile quirked V's lips. "I'm glad you called."

Rosie grinned, relief lighting up her face. "We'll see each other tomorrow at lunch. You've forgiven me too, Ann?"

Anabel nodded solemnly.

A hairy leg suddenly hid Rosie from them. Six eyes, two big and four small bubble ones, appeared on the screen.

"Off!" Rosie laughed, pushing Gamble back and appearing once more. Her smile was oddly proud as she held her vidphone further away from her.

Around her were _all_ her pokemon. Otto, Gamble, her starter, Wisp, Lenz-the-Tentacruel and Eden-the-Torterra. "The goodbyes are killing me," Rosie admitted. "But you're right and I need to face it."

Anabel's face fell. "You won't even keep a single one? Wisp…"

"Has been with me forever," Rosie agreed. "But what am I going to do, bore him to death at home?" Her laugh was throaty, yet somehow strangled. "Otto doesn't even fit through the doors! Gamble might like it, but she'd need a companion… My sisters would _kill_ me if the house became a galvantula nest." A sigh left her lips. "At Second Future, they sort out your pokemon. Free them, give them… I'll visit and my opinion will count. Maybe… maybe you'll adopt one of them." _Really?_ Rosie grinned. "Only if you become coordinators." She shuddered dramatically. "Training is just so _coarse_."

Anabel nudged V to the side so that Rosie could see her stick her tongue out. It was hard to remember they'd been angry not so long ago.

" _Catch_ ," V swore after the call had ended. "Lunch? We'll never be back from the mines for lunch tomorrow. You said it's an hour's ride."

 _Aw, but she'd wanted to go!_ "The pokecenter opens at six AM," Anabel pointed out with a guilty smile. "We'll be back for lunch if we leave early..."

V groaned and yawned, and Anabel couldn't stop her own yawn. A burp chose that exact moment to sneak out, reminding her that eating a pack of candy –washed down with a whole bottle of soda and icecreams- was a _bad_ idea. They'd not had dinner yet but just the idea of it had her stomach do backflips. In a fair world, they'd get to party _without_ the stomach-ache afterwards.

But it had been worth it. Unlike Azu, Eeveevee loved ice-cream and had licked through three whole scoops (spreading icecream up to her ears) before they'd taken her to the pokecenter.

Anabel, V and Seth had watched the battle recording in the park, and Anabel could have filled a book with all the things she and V _should have_ done during the battle, even without Seth's running commentary, but she regretted nothing.

"Alarm at 5.30," V said with a wince as they found their camping spot and their tent just like they'd left it. "I'm going to send Mama the pictures of us three with our badges. »

 _Why could they just call each other?_ "She hasn't called you? Come on, it's not Sunday but it's special!" This once a week rule was stupid. " _You_ call her."

V shook her head. "Remember how you said Mama coming to get me at school was a baby thing?"

"I was angry because we couldn't go play together, it doesn't count."

"She says she's thrilled I'm travelling and that only a bad mom makes her daughter feels guilty for doing a Journey and that she has to make herself keep the calls rare so that all can become normal later."

V said those things like they made perfect sense and it was normal, but Anabel always had to be careful not to stare and say _'really?'_. Mom had told her it _was_ serious though, that Nalani's therapist didn't say things to be mean.

"It has to be okay if _I_ 'm calling because I have things to say, though," V decided after a pause. "I'll call Thursday."

Anabel's smile was stolen by another huge yawn. It wasn't even _eight_! Thank Jirachi Seth was spending the evening and night with his parents or he'd tease them for being such babies.

 **August 12th 341 – Wednesday**

Anabel checked her vidphone. 6.40 AM. _Where was V?_

Anabel scowled, fighting the first stirrings of panic. V was with Gengar, nothing bad should have happened to her. _Right?_ Maybe her vidphone had broken down, or had no battery left, and getting their pokemon back was taking more time than they'd thought.

Maybe Gengar had pranked somebody, it had gone bad, and they were at the Police Station.

Anabel exhaled in frustration, shoving the vidphone back in her pocket. _Where was she!_

She shouldn't have let V go off alone to the pokecenter. This worry wasn't worth the extra half-hour of sleep. Huffing, she freed Skarmory.

"Hello, you," she said, forcing a smile _._ "Why don't you stretch your wings, but stay well in sight of the campsite? If you see V, come straight back to me."

"Skah," Skarmory replied, bobbing his beak in assent.

Anabel smiled as he soared away. The steel bird was sweet where Machop was serious. Trading Skarmory away would be the smart thing to do. He was friendly and really wanted to please her, but he was a disaster during battles, so clumsy and… well, he didn't care about winning, or even really trying. Seth had warned that Skarmory was too old to change, but he was sleek and pretty, and it was so cute how he liked shiny things so much, and…

And she'd _miss_ him.

Anabel aggressively closed the last zipper. "Where are you, V!" she groaned, craning her neck only to see _nobody._

Concern twisted her insides. _Had V fallen on the way?_ She hadn't even taken her bike. Could she have tripped or hurt herself somehow? But that didn't explain the vidphone.

Unless she was unconscious, or at the hospital.

It was still too early for Reception to be open. Luckily Anabel could smell food from the kitchens. She found one of the cooks starting things up.

"Hello? Mrs…" She spotted the nametag. "Amber?"

"Yes, dear?"

"If my friend Valeria comes back, could you please tell her I went to find her at the pokecenter? She's taller than me, hair to here, curly and… a lot. Silver eyes... I left a note on our spot, but she might not see it…" Nervousness was making her speak way too fast. She took a deep breath. "We were spot 67. Reception has my vidphone number. I'm Anabel Lila."

Luckily, the woman was nice. "No worries, Anabel. I'll give the message to Reception if I don't see her."

"Thank you so much!"

She frowned as soon as she was outside again. _Where had Skarmory –_

 _Oh no._ Anabel broke into a run, waving her arms frantically. She couldn't shout, not so early in the morning.

Skarmory had seen something shiny. Just inside somebody's tent. His razor sharp steel beak was getting closer, and closer, and closer -.

"Skarmory, no!" Noise was less bad than a shredded tent.

"This isn't the wilds," Anabel hissed as the huge bird hopped back towards her. "You can't go into people's stuff."

She sighed at Skarmory's guilty face. _She hadn't even raised her voice that much!_ "I'll buy you a shiny toy to play with," she promised. "Just don't touch anything while we're in Rustboro."

Skarmory stared like the city was something impossible and wonderful. He was by Anabel's side, half hopping, half flying as she rode her bicycle. His head turned in all directions. She laughed when he tripped over his steel feathers, his eyes huge. She could almost hear his thoughts going _shiny! Shiny! SHINY!_

"Stay close," she warned, slowing down with her bike as he tripped again.

She was sharply reminded that she was looking for V when Jennys – _many!_ Jennys- with pokemon detectors filled the streets. _What was all the fuss about?_

She put on a big 'sorry for bothering you' smile and asked a Jenny, who told her duskull had made a mess of the early morning deliveries. But they were all gone now, and nobody was hurt.

 _Had V run into evil duskull? Had there been too many for Gengar to handle?_

She began to panic in earnest when the Nurse Joy at the pokecenter said she hadn't seen V.

"Okay, I'll get our pokemon back," she decided, "and I'll try to figure out where she could have gone." The Nurse had seen them come together. She knew Ann wasn't stealing.

7 AM. Would Seth kill her if she called him for help so early? He'd wanted to sleep in, but -

"I've got an espeon and a machop here, but the eevee and the geodude registered by Valeria Reed have already been retrieved. At 6.30."

"Wait, what? You just said –"

"Yes, sorry. I'm still waking up," Joy said with smile. "Her dad came to get them. With her pokedex."

 _Her_... Anabel's heart stopped _._ _No way_. Joy had to be mixing things up.

"Is something wrong ?"

 _Yes!_ _V's father wasn't allowed to find V. The Jennys were supposed to make sure of that. He shouldn't have V's pokedex._ A jolt of adrenaline shook her out of her shock and she swallowed. « I need to call somebody. »

She stuffed Espeon's and Machop's pokeballs in her belt. She wasn't calling Seth. She was calling the Jennys.

"I've got this," she told Joy, who was still hovering around. Joy looked kind, but this was V's secret. Anabel forced a stiff smile. "I just didn't expect her father to be there."

 _And what about Gengar? Wouldn't he-_

Anabel jumped when her phone rang. _It was V._ She hurriedly pressed play.

It was a man. A smiling man who was handsome for someone old. Anabel stared. This _was V's dad?_ The screen moved down to his chest. He was petting Eeveevee who was curious and happy like it was all normal.

"I know Valeria told you I messed up bad during my marriage. I found her to apologize. She decided to give me a chance to talk. Just a talk. She'll call you back."

The deep voice was shockingly nice. "But…V…"

"Anabel, you're a clever girl and a brilliant friend. Did V ever say I'd mistreated her?" _Well -_ "She's my daughter, I love her. Nothing wrong happened when it was just the two of us." _But -_ "I changed. You don't want to stop us from talking, do you?"

Anabel could only gape. It was going too fast. "Um, no?"

"Perfect, see you."

Anabel just stared at the now silent screen.

She wanted to talk to V. Why hadn't he let her talk to V?

She sent a text. _'Could I just talk to V?'_

' _I'm fine Anabel. He has changed, and he deserves a chance. Just let me talk to my dad. I'd do the same if it were you.'_

Anabel frowned. V _hated_ her dad. She never even called him _Dad_. But if he had changed. If _V_ said he had changed…

' _Don't tell anyone.'_ The next text said. _'They'd freak out. It's my choice. It's my dad.'_

Anabel's eyes stung. She took a shaky breath. This wasn't Torchic. This was _V_. Anabel wouldn't betray V, but she wouldn't just stay away. Dads were important but V had said again and again that hers was evil and lied. _What if it was a trick?_

Anabel jammed her vidphone in her pocket and mounted her bike.

Not far away, a Jenny was kneeling next to an upset little boy. Anabel swallowed and slammed her feet on the pedals, Skarmory flying above.

She was panting when she reached the Route. Busses and delivery trucks zoomed by and stopped to unload goods and people, filling the air with shouts and calls and the energetic hustle every city needed to run right.

And yet Anabel suddenly felt desperately alone.

She had no idea where V and her dad were.

She had no idea what she was supposed to do.

V hadn't said _when_ she'd call Anabel back.

* * *

 **Next chapter "Daddy Dear" will be up within two weeks. I'd truly love to hear to your thoughts.**


	29. Daddy Dear

**CHAPTER 29: Daddy Dear**

 **August 12th 341 – Wednesday**

Valeria stumbled out of the tent with fresh clothes thrown over her shoulder, her muscles clumsy from sleep. She squinted against dawn's soft glare. The morning warmth hugged her like a blanked, whispering treacherously about the comfort of an extra hour's sleep.

Valeria did not let it sway her. She poked her head back into the tent, where Ann still lay curled, her eyes fluttering and her fingers clenching as she attempted to leave the dreamworld.

She was so cute. "I'll grab a shower and go get the pokemon, Ann. You sleep in until 6.15."

"M'kay. Thanks," Ann muttered, fumbling to reset the alarm. Her smile was thick with sleepy gratitude and her body relaxed, surrendering to sleep once more.

It left Valeria feeling very grown up and pleased about herself. Ann rarely needed looking after, but it was rather nice when she did.

A yawn stole out of her jaw. _Ugh_. 5.30 AM was a lousy hour. The bedlum and their mine were a promise of an adventure, though. After such long weeks of sharing Ann and putting training first, Valeria was dying to go explore with just her best friend (and pokemon, that kind of sharing Valeria didn't mind).

~Milord, can you send some cold my way, please?~

Hopefully it'd work like a bucket of water without the getting wet part.

Sudden chill stole away the morning warmth. Valeria yelped when the cool mist brushing her mind became a block of ice. _Ow!_ Her goosebump-covered arms instinctively went around her chest and she made a dash for the showers, shivers shooting through her whole body.

 _Ugh_ , maybe she should try coffee instead.

"It's all or nothing with you," she muttered under her breath as Gengar side-eyed her by the empty shower lot.

"Let's walk, Milord," she told Gengar once she was ready to go. She rode a bike in her sleep. It was like she had a fifth limb or something. It couldn't be healthy.

~It'd be brilliant if you could stick around when there are no shadows,~ she added. ~Like, I could buy a big cloak and hide you.~

It was way too hot for that right now, even with Gengar's cold aura. She also had no clue where people went to buy big cloaks. She'd have to ask Rosie.

Gengar flashed her a gleaming grin before vanishing behind a tent. He was barely a flash of purple, a trick of the light, a glimpse-and-miss-it shimmer in the air, as he found a path a shadows that made him almost invisible.

The sun was creeping up the horizon, painting the sky blue and pink. The campsite was oddly silent. _No insects, no birds,_ Valeria finally realized. The trees marking the edge of the tent-zone grew tall and proud, behind though, stood an army of buildings and factories that chased nature away. Rustboro was a city for people.

Valeria frowned when she reached the main streets. Silence gave way to life. _Loud_ life. Half the city was out. Whole families, and _loads_ of Jennys. _What was going on?_ Normal people were supposed to be asleep right now.

And – _whoa!_

Delivery trucks were normal, but those weren't supposed to be _crashed in a wall_.

Valeria blinked. There was no screaming, just a small crowd and Jennys taking care of things. _What-_

~There is a mystery here.~

Gengar left a building's shadow in a flash of dark purple to go hide in another's, melting into it until he'd vanished completely. _Wicked._ She never got tired of it.

But her eyes wouldn't leave the smashed truck. ~You think the driver's okay?~

She knew she should _just_ ask, but that was never as easy as it sounded. Walking up to those busy, tight-faced Jennys… or to the bleary-eyed families staring around as if they expected something to burst out of the streets and attack them…

It was easier to start running and see for herself.

She tripped over a crate as she turned into a side street and barely caught herself on a… _skunktank?_ Orange eyes bored into hers, warning her this wasn't the nice kind of fluffy.

"Sorry," she yelped, scrambling back upright.

"He won't bite you, girl. You saw one of those duskull? Hear they vanished."

"Duskull?"

The big woman groaned as she lifted a crate. Those were everywhere, making a drunken path to the other end of the street.

"About damn time!" the woman suddenly exclaimed.

A sweat-stained, red-faced man was running towards them with a machamp.

"Hurry," he panted, picking up a crate, "we're blocking Elm Street, and the Jennys want their machamp back in ten."

The massive muscular machamp had four crates in its arms and hurried back the way he'd come. Valeria stared wide-eyed at the chaos around her.

"They'd better catch that sick son of a weezing."

~I have found others.~

So Valeria ran, only to see a terrified little girl and her not-much-less terrified parents running after a Jenny who was walking fast with a big radio in her hands. The dad looked furious.

"I respect the law, Officer. I respect the law and don't keep pokemon illegaly in my drawer. When the Professor ruled that my pokemon weren't domestic, I let them go after my Journey. But the deal was _I don't need them to protect me_. If people can't count on – _Do not ignore me_!"

"Sir, I hear you and I agree. I'm looking for any duskull that might be hiding."

"Oh _now_ you are. That driver could have died, those –"

"Daddy, what if there's one waiting for us at home?"

"See, Officer? _See_? Now get that machine so my daughter can go back to sleep."

"Sir, we're going to escort you home." Three more Jennys with two growlithe had appeared. "Or we'll detain you," the leader snapped when the man took a new angry breath, "your choice, Sir."

This was _nuts_. Valeria stayed hidden behind the side-street wall so they'd not see her.

 _Duskull_. The hooded skull-masked ghosts had always sounded darkly fascinating, but she'd never seen one for real, much less even heard of one causing an _accident_.

~Why couldn't anyone stop them?~ She took a deep breath. ~You think you can find one, Milord?~ The Jennys were looking but Gengar was… _Gengar_.

~Children's cries attract them.~ He paused. ~I can help with that. Do you see a suitable child?~

Valeria snorted. She was glad he wasn't holding back so much anymore.

~None came for the camp?~ They could have made _so_ much trouble.

~Trainers have pokemon. The camp is a fortress. The city is a banquet table. City dwellers sleep with open windows in this heat. Those duskull targeted the dawn drivers to make noise and have the sleepers wake to panic,~ Gengar's voice was soft, echoing with cold and promise. It wasn't clear, whose side he was on. ~Fear spreads fast, especially in the face of an unknown threat. This is too organized for wild behavior. The question is, what motive?~

Valeria shuddered and lengthened her strides despite the pulsing ache in her side. She hoped the duskull hadn't made trouble at the pokecenter. She checked the time. Ann had to be awake now.

Valeria glimpsed an ambulance and swallowed hard. She didn't want to think about the duskull anymore.

~You didn't seem to care about my badge yesterday,~ she said as they neared the center.

She'd been too tired to ask, but not not to notice.

They were alone and red eyes turned to her. ~You want me to care?~

Valeria shrugged. Winning was nice. Roxanne had told her she was 'quick-minded', and that felt brilliant. ~If I can win against Gym Leaders, then I can hold my own in the real world.~

~You seek power.~

Gengar's lack of hesitation, his sudden confidence, had her clamp her lips shut. He understood _bad_ guys. It wasn't like that for her. ~ I don't want to control people, or give them orders, but I don't want anyone being able to overpower _me_. You're here, Milord, but I don't want to be helpless without you. So… I need battle skills.~

The chill in her mind intensified, swirling with unvoiced questions. She impatiently waited for Gengar to _talk_.

~ Seth told you that my strength would flee if I did not make use it. You never asked.~

Valeria almost tripped over her own feet. Gengar had fled to the shadows when they'd heard an engine sound. Anyone looking would think she was nuts, making faces at nothing.

She gathered her courage. ~Are you fainting pokemon at night?~

~That would create trouble. Would you like to see what I do, one night? ~

~If you're fine with it, I'd love to! I mean, you don't have to show me _everything_ , but -"

An ice-whip cracked in her mind. Valeria shut up and winced. _Ow_. What -

~Say what you want of me!~

Valeria shut her eyes as the invisible ghost's exasperation crashed all around her. _Seriously? Did she have to spell out everything?_ She couldn't help it: she laughed. It tasted bitter, because it reminded her that he'd been owned by slimeballs who gave orders and just didn't care, but still, it was great that he wanted to make her happy.

~I will,~ she promised cheerfully. ~I'm not upset, Milord.~

~Behind you,~ Gengar abruptly said.

Valeria spun round. They weren't alone in the narrow side-street anymore. She froze like she'd been bound by steel ropes. _It couldn't be_.

 _He_ was tall and muscled, in a short-sleeved sports jacket and black chinos. He'd shaved his head bald and his beard was longer, fuller. His silver eyes trapped hers.

 _Him_. Just like in her nightmares.

Her brain wouldn't work.

"I'm so glad to see you."

His voice was soft and thick with emotion. He looked at her like she was the most precious thing in the world. He sucked her back to when she was seven years old and had loved him more than anything.

She couldn't breathe.

~Shall I attack, cub?~

~Shall I attack!~

The cold echoes suddenly left place to something she'd never felt before, like a storm of polar lights and dancing stars, something fresh, singing, a spike of energy in her limbs.

Valeria inhaled sharply. She wasn't eight anymore. She wasn't alone. Mama wasn't here for _him_ to hurt. _He_ couldn't do anything.

~Stay hidden!~ She had to give Gengar his pokeball. She didn't doubt he could break out, but as long as _he_ didn't see the pokeball, _he_ wouldn't get a chance to cause harm. ~I don't think he'll hurt me.~ She added as Gengar's increased suspicion wrapped around her like a protective mantle.

She'd lose Gengar if he hurt a man in front of witnesses, no matter the reasons. People would come running if they heard a shout. She'd lose her license. She wouldn't be able to travel with Ann anymore.

She pushed her panic back, far down where _He_ 'd not know _._

"I… I didn't expect you."

The polar lights had dimmed. ~Why is the air humming, Milord?~ It had felt… great, in an almost overwhelming way. ~How are you doing this?~

~This is fear's taste. Your fear.~

Valeria had already been staring, so she just kept staring ahead, a blush creeping at her cheeks. _That_ was fear?

No wonder Gengar loved it.

Unfortunately Chester wasn't vanishing in thin air. He was looking at her so patiently, like the best of dads. Like when he'd taught her to ride or swim.

Valeria's heart squeezed painfully. _Why had he been so mean to Mama!_

"When did you get to Rustboro?" she said, taking a step away from him.

"I found a thrilling job," he replied with a smile. That smile she had loved so much. "I kept an eye on the Gym records, hoping you'd come."

 _Gym records_. So he knew about Eeveevee and Geo. _And Anabel._ Valeria stiffened. Ann would _not_ get hurt because of her.

"What's Mauville like?"

He knew where they lived.

The singing polar lights crawled once more through her skin. An awed smile cracked Valeria's lips. It was so strange, to be thrilled by her own fear.

"I'm doing my Journey," she managed. "Caught a brilliant geodude. She's rough, she makes the best fighter." Better he think Geo was her favorite. "Eevee's cute. More of a plush toy, though." _Sorry, Eevee_. "I'll trade her for something better once she's a bit better trained."

He nodded and smiled, as if he'd never done anything wrong.

"Which starter did you pick? I remember agonizing over that for weeks"

"I… Treecko… I," _No_. She _wasn't_ going to open up. She took another step back and forced her eyes off his face. "I just have Eevee and Geo now."

Turn away and run. She just had to turn away and _run_.

~Ghost!~

The shadows darkened in a flash and Valeria shrieked when something yanked her pokedex and her vidphone out of her belt. She inhaled sharply, from the pulse of cold anger in her mind as much as from shock. ~Don't move, Milord.~ She was definitely buying a new belt, something with a digital code on each slot or something.

~I was distracted. Those duskull are no challenge.~

~Don't. It's okay.~ She had to find out why her father was so confident.

Valeria crossed her arms, pretending her heart wasn't bursting right out of her chest. "May I _please_ have my pokeballs back?"

The duskull, that floating horror with its skull-mask and a single orb of red light where the eyes should have been, handed her things over to him. Dad's face was funny, as if he was sorry, but not, and maybe a bit scared.

"You will, Petal, I promise. I need you to give me a chance first."

 _A duskull. With her father._ A hysterical chuckle built in Valeria's chest. How fitting _he_ 'd go around with a ghost that fed on children's cries. She wasn't a child anymore, though. She was eleven. She wasn't _Petal_ anymore. She wasn't a Chester.

 _He said they'd be nothing without him_. She balled her fists behind her back to hide that they were shaking.

"I think I can find out where your starter went, Petal."

He was so much bigger than her.

 _He-_ "You know the guy who bought Torchic and Treecko? You're friends with _poachers_? You-"

Her thoughts were drowned by a howling gust of wind. ~Stop giving him information! The theft is not common knowledge.~

Valeria gasped for breath. She was dumb. She was so dumb. She flinched harder when her father looked sorry.

"I heard of a man with a gengar near Lavaridge. It's the kind of story that people like telling for a good scare around a drink. I heard he gets you things if you pay enough."

~Not simple people; people in the trade. No one else knows.~

Valeria couldn't see Gengar. She could imagine him clearly, though, glinting fangs bared, ready to attack.

~Don't let him see you, Milord. Don't you dare let him ruin any more of my life!~

"Let me help, Valeria." Chester winked, his arms half open. Arms she'd rushed into so often for a hug. Arms he'd crossed to say awful words to Mama, over and over again. Arms that had been relaxed when he'd locked away Mama's things, to _teach_ her, as if that was what good husbands did. "I'll teach them to mess with you."

Valeria's shoulders slumped. Ann would be so happy if she got Torchic back. She had to try.

~Do not trust those who steal your pokeballs.~ Gengar's voice was dry ice.

Valeria smiled despite herself. She had Gengar. Everything had changed. She could risk it.

"Okay," she said, watching Chester light up thinking the smile was for him. "Where do you want us to go?"

"You get in the truck. Let me get your pokemon, and we'll have an adventure." He smiled, his silver eyes singing like he was truly happy. "You'll love it."

She'd almost forgotten how confused and furious he made her, and yet how good she'd gotten at pretending she was fine. She walked towards the small blue truck on the corner and kept her feelings in, like she'd done so many times before and hoped she'd never have to do again.

Alongside her shame, cold fury not hers burned against her mind. ~I can make him tell you everything. You do not have to make deals.~

Valeria clenched her jaw. _'I won't let anything or anyone make me evil.'_ She'd _promised_. Her father had made her evil before. Not again. She needed a different plan. He wasn't worth losing Gengar over.

Gengar, who was furious _for her_. A hard smile bloomed on her lips. _He_ wasn't half as powerful as he thought.

~Milord, I have no idea where he's taking us. The moment we stop, I need you to find a phone and call Ann.~

He had her vidphone. _Would he call Mama?_ _In a fight, could Gene win? Gene was smaller, but he did care, and -._ Valeria clamped her teeth together. She had to keep calm.

~Did you hear me, Milord?~

Grumbling assent rang between her ears like muted thunder. ~We will get even,~ Gengar vowed, his voice oddly calm, and never had his presence felt so strong.

 _Where was he?_ She needed to give him his pokeball. She let it slide out of her fingers and against the back of her leg, and kicked it behind a trash can while her father was giving the duskull orders to watch over her. ~Keep it safe.~

The cold swirl of questions was becoming uncomfortable.

~He's my father and he's a evil. He almost destroyed Mama and I hate him. He's risking jail by being so close to me. He's dangerous.~

~Why are _you_ so furious at him?~ she asked the lingering cold in her mind as she and the duskull traded careful curious stares.

~I am not prepared to change master just yet.~

~I'm not your _master_ , Milord.~

~Precisely, cub. I enjoy this new freedom.~

Left alone by the truck, Valeria made goggly eyes at the duskull. It tugged on its mask, which was just its face, and tried to make its creepy eyesocket-eyes even bigger. _Silly ghost._

Her father –it had been easy to think 'Chester' while he'd been far. Now, though…- was back quickly. With two pokeballs she recognized all too well.

A rock lodged itself in Valeria's throat. _If he hurt Eeveevee…_

Polar lights and singing stars tore her once more from her fear, back into the present. She blinked, because the sun was brighter. She felt more aware, more rooted in her surroundings. She frowned at the window across the street. Lush flowers stood behind. Her eyes flickered to the other windows, suddenly curious.

She took a deep breath. This sizzling awareness, Gengar's gift, _her fear_. She giggled softly, overwhelmed.

~You have me, cub.~

 _That she had._ And her father wouldn't be able to get Ann's pokemon. He'd have to have called Ann in front of Nurse Joy and gotten permission. Espeon and Machop were safe.

Her smile was half gasp as she allowed herself to focus on her ghost. _He_ mattered. Chester did _not_. ~The fear, it makes you feel more alive.~

~You take your senses for granted. Ghosts are cut off. Everything is dimmed. Life tolerates our presence but we are not part of it like you are. Fear dissolves the barriers. For a time, the shadows lift.~

So that was why he was so hungry for it. It was messed up, yet... A grin bloomed on Valeria's lips. ~I'm glad my fear's not wasted.~

Fear could be good warning and avoid mistakes, Chester, though, he brought out bad-fear, ugly and paralyzing that made you forget what was good and the person you wanted to be. Bad-fear threw powerlessness back in your face.

It also made Gengar alive. It made him alive and yet he shared the feeling, even if it made her _less_ scared. She'd been right. He wasn't evil.

Soon, a net of red transformed the duskull in energy and revealed her father a few yards away, his stride relaxed and confident, a small trustworthy smile on his handsome face. _She'd once thought him the most handsome of dads_.

Valeria's face was blank. She had too many emotions inside to have any to spare for her face.

Gengar had slipped unseen under the truck. It was what reminded her to breathe.

"You saw a psychiatrist, didn't you, Petal?"

 _V. She was V._

"They helped a lot I imagine. Did you know I saw one too? I knew I had to change, but I didn't know how. She taught me how. We can make things good, and instead of anger, it'll be nice things and nice memories."

' _You say that, and then send duskull to make people crash their trucks and go into people's windows?'_ Valeria wanted to say. _'You saw a rubbish therapist.'_

"What about the duskull?" she said instead, opening the truck door and climbing in.

"I didn't send the duskull. Those other duskull aren't mine. Only this one, and all I asked him was to keep an eye out for my daughter, so I should find her."

 _Yeah, definitely._ Just the one duskull. Sure, that made it alright. He thought she was super dumb for real.

Valeria smiled, though, and pretended to give him another chance.

Oo*oOo*oO

When he'd pulled over in the woods a few minutes after leaving Rustboro and picked up Eeveevee, Valeria almost told Gengar to attack.

Instead, she'd just stood there as he called Ann and used his kind voice. _Lies, lies, lies._ She could see all the missed calls on her vidphone.

She caught a glimpse of Ann's confused face.

She hated him so much.

~How did you not notice the duskull spying on me, Milord?~

"Your friend looks nice. _V_ , huh? It makes you sound all grown up."

Valeria stiffened. He couldn't call her V. He'd ruin it. "I like Petal better," she managed.

"Me too." He kept smiling like he was winning.

He kept her vidphone and left her pokedex outside in the grass. ' _I'll buy you a new one, one that doesn't have a tracking chip.'_

She said nothing. _Catch, why would anyone normal care about the tracking chip?_ The chips were there to save lives. She vowed to learn every single important phone number by heart from now on.

The truck's engine noise was oddly soothing. It was louder than Gene's truck. Gene's was new and didn't go off the big roads, though. This one wasn't much bigger, but it had much bigger wheels.

Valeria cradled Eeveevee's pokeball in her hand. At least she had her fluffy princess back. It had worked: he'd kept Geo and had handed her Eeveevee, to prove that 'he just wanted her to trust him'.

 _Trust him_ , after he'd taken her pokedex and just left it there. Maybe she should just open the door and run. Geo might be mad at first, but she'd be okay. She'd fit right in with people like her father. Valeria dug her nails in her palm. _They'd make Geo evil._

He'd pay. "What do you want? I still want to do my Journey." She couldn't run. There weren't enough trees to hide. He had the truck. He ran faster.

"I know. I loved my Journey. I was scared Nalani wouldn't let you. She doesn't understand these things. I... I'm sure she's a great mother otherwise."

Valeria's mouth opened in shock. Dad _never_ said good things about Mama.

 _Could a therapist have taken away all the bad parts? For real?_

"You could do a Journey much more interesting, with whichever pokemon you'd like, common or rare, and not have to worry so much about battling, badges, deadlines and paying your way through. Admit it, you're like me, traveling is the most fun part."

 _I'm nothing like you!_

He chuckled. "Your hair's the mark of a true traveller."

Valeria stiffened when he turned away from the wheel and put his hand on her arm. He removed it immediately, looking sad.

"Petal, aren't you sick of being poor?"

Roxanne's words were bitter in her throat, _'badges are only one way of doing thing'_ and how hard it had been not to blurt out that she _needed_ the badge prize money to keep going. _Was everyone else rich?_

"I was a bad husband, but I can be a great father, offer you a real home. You'll get opportunities instead of getting stuck with some lousy job because you'll have to work at sixteen. You'll still see Nalani as much as you want."

Valeria bit her lip before she could blurt about Gene and how Mama had found a job. Shutting him up wasn't worth getting him mad or worse, have him try to find Mama.

"You're right, it's been hard." _And it was your fault_. "Even if you just have one of the duskull, though, that still means you're friends with criminals."

"Life's complicated, kid," he said with a sigh. "You're not dumb, you know people simplify thing with words. Illegal doesn't always overlap with evil. It doesn't here."

Valeria forced a small smile when what she wanted was to bang her head against the window –or maybe _his_ head-. The nice-talk about Mama was super confusing. The fact he thought she'd not mind him being a criminal, the kind that made _trucks crash_ , that was _nuts_.

"The laws pretend to make things fair and simple, but they favor big corporations instead of helping talented people who lucked out. We don't hurt anyone. We just create opportunities. We'll be happy now, you'll see." His smile softened. "I missed you, Petal."

Valeria looked down, her eyes stinging treacherously.

"Everything's changed now. I promise I'll never bother Nalani again. I loved her wrong, I realize that now. I won't try to contact her. But you know the reason I couldn't see _you_ was because _you_ convinced the judge I couldn't co-parent with Nalani or be a good dad." Valeria had just told the _truth_. "The first… I don't blame you, but the second is unfair. That's why I came to show you I'd changed."

 _Sorrys and promises, and Mama believing it over and over again. Questions to twist Valeria's mind, change her memories, and make her unable not to agree with him._ Catch, she _wouldn't_ listen! She was done with him.

She cleared her throat. "Are you going to introduce me to the people you work with?"

"Valeria, my job is just finding good people. _You_ are good. You'll get paid, and you can do your Journey. You and Anabel will get your starters back."

~What do you think, Milord?~

None of the cold leaked inside from under the truck. Valeria crossed her fingers. He _couldn't_ find out about Gengar.

~He will get you to commit a crime. With your License is in peril, you will depend entirely on his goodwill. Forget Treecko and Torchic.~ Gengar's voice echoed harsh and chilling.

~Let me make him leave you alone. Tell him he is not your family.~

Valeria's throat was dry. She'd never shouted at Dad. Never said the words _I hate you_. Even when Mama had come back, Valeria had just walled off behind bland politeness.

~He'll see you and he'll tell! He'll know you're the same gengar.~

~ I have many names of poachers among those he claims to know. There are those that protect the poachers, but the clones will find my information invaluable. If he does not fear the clones, he should fear his… colleagues.~

 _Why hadn't Valeria just screamed the moment she saw him?_ She'd had Jennys in the street right next to hers!

~Think to me what he says and what you answer, cub. He is not the only one here who knows manipulation.~

~Okay.~

Gengar made her feel safer. She was still in _his_ truck, though. He had her geodude. Rustboro was too far to run to, even if he didn't follow her.

"You've gone quiet. We'll be there in fifteen minutes." They were taking a road that could only be called road because there weren't any trees or too deep holes in the middle.

~He is going to the mines. There is nothing else of interest in that direction.~

"Just thinking about everything, Dad," Valeria quickly said, keeping her face firmly towards the window.

He grinned and she realized it had slipped out. _Dad_.

Her jaw clenched. She'd not let him ruin her life again. She'd not risk anything happening to Ann.

"What about my friend?" she said. "Let me call her. She'll figure out you're the one who sent those texts. She'll call her parents unless I talk to her. They'll call the Jennys." She took a sharp breath. "Dad, please."

Her father slowly nodded. He handed her vidphone. "Call her."

Anabel answered immediately. She was flushed and on a bike.

"I'm with Dad, in his truck," Valeria said before Ann could blurt anything. "I'm fine, we're kind of catching up. Where are you?" _Where was Ann going?_

"I… I don't know. I… I'm just… riding." Ann said slowly between gasps for breaths. "You _really_ okay?"

Valeria hated to see her so worried. "I'm fine, for real." They should set up code words. "Did you call anybody?"

"No! I keep your secrets, you know that! Where are you going?"

~Repeat my words: you must go where we had planned to go. It will take you just twenty minutes. He is reading all my messages, please do not send anything embarrassing. Say the last as though it is a joke.~

"Ann, you should go where we'd planned to go. _Really_. It's just twenty minutes away." _Which wasn't true at all._ "It's okay. Dad's reading all my texts, though, so don't send anything embarrassing."

Gengar was a genius. Dad snorted and didn't look suspicious at all.

Valeria smiled before ending the call, wishing she could make Ann feel better. He'd made Mama miserable, and now he was making her best friend miserable. _He'd pay._

~I can help you hide the body,~ Gengar volunteered. It felt different. Lighter and cutting, melting in with her own anger. _Was that sarcasm?_

It made her feel protected. She smiled brightly as she ended the call.

Her father sighed. "It's better to never know of poachers than to meet them and later reject them. It gets… ugly. I can introduce you to wonderful people who will make the best friends if you're scared Anabel won't understand."

~'It gets ugly' is a threat. He wants Anabel out of the way.~ Gengar's voice, his angry shadow looming in her mind, made her think of spikes of ice.

If only she had a big sharp spike of ice.

~He takes a reckless risk by including you. You are a witness and a liability. His masters would be furious. You see him as much bigger than he is.~ Gengar's chuckle was cold and scornful. ~ _He_ sees himself as much bigger than he is. I have shared the mind of many like he. He can be manipulated.~

~How, though?~

"There's going to be Jennys guarding the mines. Are they your friends, Dad?"

Dad raised his eyebrows high. "The mines?"

Gengar's voice pierced through her sudden terror, thick with singing polar lights. ~Smile and say 'I'm not dumb, Daddy. There's nothing else around here.'~

In Gengar's voice it sounded super ridiculous. When she said it, it worked. Dad laughed.

~Milord, you're brilliant.~

"The Jennys will be busy when we arrive. I won't hurt them, Petal. We try not to hurt people."

"How will you make them busy?"

He didn't answer. He just smiled. She'd never seen that smile but she liked it. It was smug and almost evil. She'd have been much less confused if he'd smiled like that before.

"You won't hurt them for real?" she insisted.

"No. It's _bad_ , Petal," Dad said with an eyeroll. "And it doesn't pay off. Hurt a person and you have to watch your back for life. If you have to hurt, you've already made a mistake somewhere. The criminals that beat up and kill belong to tales and History." He smiled at her in the rear view. "Journeys are possible because we're civilized."

~Is that true, Milord? Don't criminals ever hurt each other? Your old master -~

~Violence among criminals does not follow the same rules as violence with others but even among themselves they are careful. I was valued because my threats are perceived as real. I am not held to the same rules as humans. Whispers of murder are used to cow unfortunate witnesses. There is little that money, rewards and threats cannot do. Once corrupt, liabilities will not contact the clones.~

A shiver ran up Valeria's spine. Gengar sounded like he knew these things so well.

"You look far away, Petal."

"I'm just thinking," Valeria muttered. The rumble of the engine and the tires against dirt track made her ears ring.

She let herself fall back against the seat. Catch, she was exhausted. Just emotions and thoughts, and she was exhausted. That those could be worse than running for hours was no news to her, though.

They cut through tall grass, snaking around gnarled trees and bumping over roots. No wonder the truck's wheels were so big.

~There's no way Ann can ever get here in twenty minutes.~

~The dragonite. Your friend asks for help with more ease than you do.~

Valeria flinched. Ann would tell _Seth_?

"You look bothered, Petal."

 _Couldn't he just leave her alone?_ "I'm thinking about pokemon thieves," she snapped.

The memory of her fear left a fresh bubbling taste in her mouth.

Valeria stiffened, her brain piecing pieces together now that she finally had a second to think. Gengar had _known_ about the duskull! He'd told her _everything_. She'd just not noticed it straight away.

He hadn't answered her question about the duskull following her.

~You didn't see Dad's duskull watching the tent because you were in town all night! You told me to solve the 'mystery'. You _wanted_ me to find the truck and all the scared people.~

Her mind stayed silent. _Catch_. ~I'm not mad. _I know_ I can't expect you to be a person, Milord. Everyone's been telling me that over and over. You're right, the fear's amazing.~

He was _there_ again, wariness and questions riding a frosty wind.

~The driver from the crashed truck was alive when the ambulance took him away,~ Gengar's echoing voice was even slower than usual. ~I could have stopped the duskull. I risked being seen but it is unlikely they would have traced me to you. Intervening is not what I do. I… I did not think of it.~

' _Say what you want from me,'_ the chill whispered.

~I want you to tell me things and not hide, Milord. I won't hate you.~

 _Was that last echo a huff?_ ~I hear you, cub.~

The scares trees and barely-drawn paths looked all the same now, but after a time Dad took his vidphone and muttered a few words inside. He winked when he caught Valeria's gaze. "The Jennys are going to think dumb trainers got lost and wounded in one of the old mine tunnels. They're blocked with wooden boards and warning signs, but," Dad shrugged " _trainers_."

He had to be joking. "You are going to lock them in there?" A dark, underground corridor that might collapse? "That's nuts!"

"Not me. I've got _friends_ , Petal. A lady with delightfully efficient pokemon will keep them in for a few hours. They won't have a scratch on them."

He wasn't alone. He had more pokemon. _Catch!_ ~Milord, we've got to-~

~Yes. I will send the dragonite there.~

Valeria couldn't help the giggle leaving her lips. Her father had no idea.

She blinked when she finally saw constructions out of the window. Dad pulled over just before the last trees left place to huge industrial-like storage shacks and other buildings. They circled a huge hole that looked like an inverted hill with different levels, and tunnels that looked like gaping mouths.

She didn't want to go inside.

"Here we are. The famous iron mines of Rustboro. We're taking a side entrance, come."

They'd taken side _paths_ since the start. There was a very nice, wide, _asphalted_ road going straight to the mine. Nothing like the bumpy sorry excuse for a road they'd just taken.

~I am going to find Anabel.~

That tore a smile from her lips. Her shoulders relaxed. ~Hurry!~ She still had her phone, her father must have forgotten. Or maybe he thought he could trust her now.

"This where the party is going to be, Petal."

He'd opened the back of the truck. Valeria paled. Almost twenty pokeballs. One after the other, duskull filled the air with lifeless eyes and creepy masks.

He didn't even spare her a look of apology for lying.

"Stay close to the mine," he told the one-eyed ghosts. "If someone comes, surround them, distract them and flee towards that mine over there if they are strong. You, and you," he pointed, "come find me immediately if you see anyone."

The duskull drifted away and Dad grabbed what looked like a huge water gun.

He caught her stare. "Spore-gun. It'll put any pokemon to sleep. We'll be clean and quick."

This was nuts. Her father was _nuts_.

~Duskull everywhere,~ she thought-shouted. _Please don't go too far away._

~These are not loyal pokemon like in your teams.~ She could barely hear him, but the mockery in his tone was unmistakable. ~They are cowards and not very bright.~

"Have you ever seen a metagross, Petal?"

She gingerly took the odd full face-mask, like those masks for dangerous science, her father handed her. "What's _that_ for?"

"To breathe through the spores. There's enough to put the whole mine to sleep for a week."

 _Catch_.

She gaped when she saw him wrap a belt with seven, _seven_ , masterballs around his waist.

"Your vidphone, Petal."

He'd been smaller in her memories. Valeria swallowed and gave him back the phone, hating herself.

 _Ann had better get here in time._

* * *

 **Poor Valeria is terribly conflicted, and she won't admit even half of it to herself.**

 **Next chapter, Bedlum Havoc, will take us inside the mines.**


	30. Beldum Havoc

**CHAPTER 30: Beldum Havoc**

* * *

Anabel held on for dear life. She was blind and deaf, wind roaring around her and shoving her body and face against Dragonite's cool –and way too _slippery_ \- scales.

 _Twenty minutes_ , V had said. Not even a car would get to the mines _that_ fast. Anabel had checked with her vidphone first thing, thinking V was sneakily suggesting Anabel tell a Jenny everything. But no. No Jennys meant it had to be _flying_ , and flying… well Skarmory was lovely, but still not letting anyone on his back. So Anabel had called Seth, and it didn't matter that she'd not thought up excuses because Seth had agreed without asking.

He'd made her promise to tell him everything later. V had _better_ be ready to trust him. Seth was a friend and he was awesome. _How many people lent you their dragonite like that?_

So Anabel was flying, on a _dragonite_. From below, she bet she looked awesome, but from on top she could barely breathe. Her legs were screaming from squeezing too tight, but she didn't dare relax, or even imagine just how far down the ground was. She couldn't even check they were still going in the right direction because her face was squashed against the big dragon's back.

But dragonite were smart, right? She didn't even dare think she might be wrong. V was in trouble!

Even breathing was hard. The wind…the sky had been so blue but it was like a storm, and freezing!

Ghosts, Seth had done two whole hours of this? Just to come see them?No wonder he'd suited up and worn a helmet. Even with her raincoat closed tight, Anabel couldn't stop shivering.

Suddenly, the wind's bite was softer. Anabel dared a glimpse and gasped, ducking her head again. They were just above the trees, as low as they could get without getting their limbs chopped off by the outstretched branches.

 _Thump!_ Anabel lurched. It was a whole ten seconds before she realized they'd landed and half a minute more her stiff muscles accepted to let go. She awkwardly slid off, a grin of tangled feelings –mostly relief at being alive- blooming behind her gasps for breath.

A huge dug-out bare hill hulked behind the sparse trees. _The mine!_ Clusters of white and brown building surrounded gaping holes in the earth and rock. There wasn't a single tree for at least half-a-mile.

Anabel stood low, itching to run but not sure where. _Where was V?_

"Drago?"

"I don't know. Can you see anyone? No, don't go! We should try to find the mine's entrance." _Why couldn't there be signs?_

Swirling chill shoved away her thoughts. Her breath hitched, but this time she smiled as the creepy echoes invaded her mind. ~Anabel. The clone guards were tricked away, tell the dragon he's needed to rescue them.~

"I am so happy to see you!" Well, he was still invisible, but she _was_ happy. "Is V alright?" She was never saying a bad word against Gengar ever again. _Clone guards? As in Jennys?_

"Drago?" This time the dragon's voice was a threatening growl and Anabel hastily told him it was just Gengar and _not to kill him._

Gengar finally showed himself and told Dragonite about abandoned tunnels in pokespeech. They seemed to understand each other well, but Dragonite still turned to her in the end.

"It's okay," Anabel said, liking how he considered _her_ the boss. "You've got to follow Gengar and save some Jennys. When that's done, go back to Seth. Tell him he's awesome and I'm calling him as soon as I can."

Dragonite left. Anabel blinked, realizing she was still short of a plan. And, well, _short_. And all of ten. And alone. Anabel shook herself. She was _never_ alone anymore. Espeon appeared, her purple fur glistening in the morning sun. She made everything warmer and brighter.

"V's in trouble. Stay close, Love," she whispered.

~He lies and wants to isolate her.~ The shock at realizing Gengar _hadn't_ gone was stolen by a shudder. Ghosts, he sounded seething. ~He is a poacher. She will not let me attack him.~

"We have Jennys to deal with bad stuff like this!" _Poachers_. Anabel's arms wrapped around Espeon. And that man had to be made to stay away, not _attacked_. "Can he really tell if I call anyone?"

She took a deep breath when Gengar moved far enough for some warmth to flow back in.

~No,~ Gengar finally said.

Anabel didn't have to be told twice. She put her bike back in her pack and took out her vidphone. "I've got to call the Jennys. What do I say?"

She dialed the station and waited. One ring. Two. Anabel held her breath. _Jirachi, please have them pick up._ Three rings. Four. _Ghosts! They have one job!_

Finally a woman answered. "I'm at the iron mines!" Anabel exclaimed. "My friend's father; she's got a restraining order against him, kidnapped her, and he's the guy who freed all the duskull." She was speaking so fast she tripped over the words and had to start again. "Now he's at the mines too, with V, and all the duskull, like twenty of them. They are just floating around. He distracted the Jennys that were supposed to guard here, got them into an abandoned tunnel."

She yelped when her mind filled again with Gengar-cold. ~If they ask how you know _that_ , say you spotted clone uniforms when flying with Dragonite and guessed the rest. If they do not ask, say _nothing_.~

~Sorry, sorry!~ Ghosts, V wouldn't get annoyed about the Jennys, right? It's not like Anabel had spilled about Gengar.

The Jenny was typing really fast on the other end. "We'll set up a team immediately. Who's speaking? How old are you? What's your friend's full name? Do you have the man's?"

"Anabel Lila, I'm almost eleven. My friend is Valeria Reed. Her dad's last name's Chester. I don't know his first name. We battled Roxanne yesterday… What do I do? He doesn't know I'm here. I don't know what he's doing but they went inside."

"Stay out of sight. Don't go near that man or the ghosts. Stay online, I'll hand you to a colleague, don't put your phone down. Keep that espeon close."

You bet she was keeping Espeon close.

"They've gone inside the mine, just minutes ago," Anabel whispered furiously, trying to stealthily keep up with Gengar. He wasn't hiding anymore and kept gesturing her to follow him with his creepy red ghost eyes that moved in a way no proper eyes should. "He's got a big spore-gun."

"Is the girl in immediate danger? Will her father hurt her?"

Anabel shook her head slowly. Her eyes desperately sought Gengar. He was no help at all. "I don't think so, but... V did say he's never hit her…"

~Duskull smell fear. Stay away.~

"Wha-" Gengar had already disappeared. ~Take care!~ Anabel still thought-shouted. "How far away are you, officer?" her lips were almost kissing the vidphone.

"We can't make contact with our onsite… If they're in a tunnel..." The Jenny took a sharp breath. "We'll need thirty minutes." She looked appalled by her own words. "We'll ambush him when he exits the mine. There's been a fire alert on top of everything."

 _Thirty minutes?_

"Please hurry." And there was nothing she could prepared herself for the thirty longest minutes in her life.

V- Oo*oOo*oO

Valeria stared at the concrete corridor in unfeigned curiosity. Her father had some kind of pass. He'd even known how to turn the mine's lights on. The corridor was empty and dragged on into the darkness. A door, thick and metal, greeted them to their left.

"So there are no guards at all?" she breathed. The yellowish lights from the low ceiling blinked alive only when they stepped under them, keeping the rest dark. It made it all look like a strange dream-place.

"Not anymore. I've disabled the alarms. We've got time, but we should hurry." Dad was grinning behind the evil spore-mask, Valeria could tell. She winced. She'd been half in love with that grin, before. "Ah, there they are."

The big metal door surrendered to her father's pass like the other before it. It revealed a big storage room, full of shelves and equipment. The shelves were thick glass, the kind you couldn't shatter, and locked. Superballs, too strong for a normal pokemon to break out of but not as crazily airtight as masterballs, made a neat line. There were maybe a hundred of them.

"How many beldum work here?" It seemed a harsh place to be. Beldum had been created by man, though, so they had to like it like that.

"Seventy-three used to. Less now. The magnetic field had them assemble into metang and metagross." The mask couldn't muffle how happy, _smug_ , he sounded. "It's a science trick, don't ask me how. Neat, though. My task's to bring all those shiny metagross home. Let's take a look, Petal."

He had a pokecenter reader device. It went red whenever a ball was empty, and green with a pokedex picture of the pokemon inside otherwise. Most were empty, but many weren't.

"So twenty-one beldum, and two metang. These two must be stable…"

"Where are all the others?" Valeria whispered. ~Milord?~ she thought-shouted for the hundredth time since Gengar had left.

She smiled in relief when a sliver a cold finally brushed her mind. ~The clones shall reach the mines in twenty-five minutes.~

So Ann had called the Jennys. Valeria swallowed, wishing she was bigger. _Twenty-five minutes._ _Okay._

"When beldum are strong enough, their brain patterns shift and they merge. We exposed them to magnetic pulses to force that shift and get as many metagross as possible. Unfortunately, the scientists didn't realize that their brains wouldn't handle well being bound prematurely."

~Face him and look awed, cub. His boasting brings us knowledge.~

Valeria's forced her face to pretend. It felt dirty. Worse, _weak_. She'd loved him teaching her stuff. She'd been little and dumb and she hated how he looked at her and still saw her like she was still the same. Like he still deserved that love.

"On the first underground floor," Dad went on, "that's where we're going, the unstable metang and metagross that are too excitable to stay balled have been isolated."

Metagross that'd break out of a superball. Catch, Valeria wasn't sure she wanted to keep going. "Isn't it a bit of a super bad idea?"

"They've been lured inside reinforced corridors and starved for the last two days. Starvation makes them hibernate. We have to find the exact corridors where the metagross are. And for this, I have this baby," he added, pulling out a kind of big radio.

It wasn't a radio. ~Milord, he's got an energy detector!~

~I am staying.~ Gengar warned, snuffing out her unvoiced protests. ~It is time he became scared of _us_.~

Valeria's lips broke into a strained smile as she scrambled to gain time. "Don't you want the stable metang? As a control group?"

Her father blinked. He smiled behind his mask and pulled some tools out. "Still a fan of physics, huh?"

Valeria tried to forget _he_ 'd make her love physics. Dr. Fiori had said it was okay, though and she was still allowed to love them.

Dad unlocked the glass cages and gathered up the superballs holding the metang. It took him minutes, nowhere near 25 though, or half that. They went back to the corridor and deeper inside the mine. A big square lift was soon lit by the yellow lights. They didn't take those. They took the stairs. Bare, dark gray stairs washed in cold yellow light that went on and on and on.

~How come ghosts don't haunt this place? It's so spooky.~

~Beldum fear nothing and humans with work on their mind have no patience for tricks.~

With Gengar invisible, Valeria's eyes were back on her father's spore-gun. Spores did not work on ghosts. Still, Valeria was afraid.

The door to the first underground finally appeared. A thick 20 was painted over it.

"Higher than a six-storey building, only deep underground." Dad's mask-altered voice made it even creepier. The door didn't even creak when it opened. The air was cooler, almost chilly. It tasked stale. Lights turned on overhead, blinding them for a few seconds. It was quiet. Another gray corridor. They couldn't see more than five yards.

"This way, Petal. Stay calm and stay close."

He raised the pokemon detector before him. Valeria sucked in a breath. ~You sure- ~

~Oh, absolutely.~

Dad whipped the spore gun around so fast Valeria had to duck. "There's something here, it's very close."

"I know. He's my friend."

Cold washed over her exposed skin and Gengar was on her shoulder, a scarf of winter and protective darkness. She didn't have to see Gengar's red eyes or if he'd bared his teeth. The way her father paled was enough.

He was hunched now, his back against the wall, his eyes wide like a baby's. A scared baby's.

It was the best feeling. Gengar shared the fear, making it _real_. They were scaring _him_.

Lightheaded and barely able to breathe, she couldn't help the smile dancing on her lips. "The gun won't work on him," she said, a hysterical giggle threatening to invade her words. "And I'd love to have my geodude back."

She was standing there, with Gengar, and they were _stronger_. _Stronger than Lysias Chester_. It was like a dream.

Cackling energy gathered above Gengar as her father stayed frozen.

"You sure you want me to knock you out and take it from you?" Valeria said. "Don't _make me_." That's how he'd talked to Mama, questions heavy with threats, blaming her for everything he did. How he'd started talking to _her_ , more and more, before they'd left for good.

She couldn't believe it when Dad slowly handed out the pokeball.

~No,~ Gengar ordered when she made to get it. ~He might grab you if you stand too close. Have him throw the ball.~

"Throw it to me." He was listening to her. He was _listening_ to _her_.

Her hands closed over Geo's pokeball. _She had control._ Gengar's sharp satisfaction merged with her own and she latched onto it, relishing in their shared exhilaration. _She'd never be lonely or helpless again._ She breathed in wonder, suddenly aware it wasn't just a beautiful hum in the air, a sizzle running up her skin. Her father's fear filled her nose throat, a smell of scrumptious cakes, and fresh clean air, and power.

She felt _alive_.

"There's no need for threats, Petal." She blinked, pulled back to reality. "I know it's hard for you to trust me, but I meant everything I said."

She smiled slightly. It never reached her eyes. _He was nothing. He'd soon be out of her life forever._ "You go in first." She was pretty curious to see those asleep metagross while they waited for the Jennys.

 _They're psychic, Gengar's super-effective._ She began humming merrily. Gengar made Dad's pulsing fear into a song which sent thrills running down her spine.

They turned and the corridor became many. A sort of thick concrete, different from before, made the walls. The _dented_ walls, as if something big, _many somethings_ , had clawed at it.

"Metagross can digest both minerals and organic material, this is one of the few plastics they don't eat that is solid enough to keep them in."

Valeria considered pretending she hadn't heard Dad to spite him. His fear had lessened too. She wanted her questions answered, though. Now that she had power, she realized the mines were exciting for real.

"They're industrial pokemon," she pointed out. "Why don't you catch wild types?"

"Numbers. Try finding over three beldum anywhere else. Otherwise, I'd have happily gone where there are no Jennys." Dad was walking so fast she almost had to run. "Metagross are organic robots. They were obtained artificially before the war, back when creating pokemon was legal and we needed super-calculators that weren't easy to destroy. There's no distinction between industrial and wild types."

Valeria caught herself mid-nod, once more pulled back to a time where she'd sit near him and he'd teach her everything. This time, though, the familiar confusion she so loathed failed to take hold. _It was over._ She had Ann, and Gengar, and she'd make her own family. Valeria Chester had been so confused. Valeria Reed was _not_.

"Creating pokemon sounds incredible," she whispered. _Incredible and brilliant._ Gengar was sharp and attentive, absorbing the information and filling her with that magical barrier of _safe_.

~Ask for cameras. If there are none and anything happens here, we can blame the metagross.~

Gengar had always been in her head but also somehow _next to her_. Now he was closer, the cold digging deeper into her being, and she could feel his hunger for _more fear_ , for making Lysias Chester pay. It dug into her, echoing the rage of all her bad memories. _The fear that made her clutch her pen so hard and stare unseeingly at her homework as he and Mama fought but only Mama ended up crying_.

"Are there any cameras here, Dad?" 'Dad' rolled easily on her tongue now. It was a fact. It didn't mean he could own her.

"Don't worry, I've disabled everything." He winced, his eyes lingering on her a little too long.

The air hummed louder, telling her he now suspected why she had asked.

It was less than a minute before they saw their first metagross. The steel robot was huge, almost as tall as -and definitely wider than- her father, but it was slumped on the ground, its four metallic legs of a sickly-blue color, darker than the expected turquoise shine. _People had created that from scratch. Whoa._ The spherical centrepiece, which was both body and head, slowly swivelled towards them, revealing beady red eyes and a huge toothy mouth under the large metallic cross stamped over its face.

Beady, red, _open_ eyes. And it _moved_. The half-ton of steel and sharp claws _moved_.

Valeria jumped backwards. "That's hibernation?" she whisper-shrieked.

"Let's see if this beauty is strong enough to attack," her father said, aiming the stun-spore gun.

It wasn't and was soon swallowed inside a masterball. Valeria took a steadying breath. Such a rare, intelligent, powerful pokemon, and someone like her father could just…

She shuddered, remembering the lessons about all the destroyed cities and how the population had been over ten times larger. People hadn't cared that the technology was destroying the world. Bad experiments hadn't even been illegal.

' _The strict laws on licenses protect us as much as they protect pokemon,'_ Mr. C had stressed.

And slimeballs like Lysias Chester thought they were above the laws designed to keep them all safe and happy. _How dare he._

"Do you have a license?" she asked, as if it was just another random question.

"I soon will, a very real one." His smile wilted as his eyes met Gengar's.

~You're my favourite person right now, Milord.~

~I am being underutilized.~ Gengar's voice was tinged with impatience.

She swallowed, pushing back fierce temptation. _Ann was right outside._ Ann would want her to wait for the Jennys.

"We should go find more metagross," she said, as much for Gengar as for her father.

Oo*oOo*oO

"How long?" Anabel demanded, Espeon's twin tails whipping the air nervously next to her. "No one's out, it's really silent."

"The two officers you saw on the road will be here within minutes. The first team is on the helicopter, the Rangers will join them in less than five minutes and bringing the last of the necessary gear. You're doing a great job, Anabel."

The lady on the phone had tried to distract her, telling her that the Jennys hadn't caught the duskull because of a jammer jamming their pokemon detectors. They'd together come to the conclusion that the jammer was in V's father's truck because the jamming had stopped at the same time he'd left the city. If he'd turned the jammer off in order to better find the beldum, the incoming Jennys would catch the duskull in no time. They were bringing in troops of ninjask, the fastest pokemon they had.

 _But what if it was too long? What if he hurt V? What if Gengar had been wrong and that man knew that Anabel had called for help?_

Anabel sprung to her feet, her breathing shallow. She couldn't wait anymore. It had been over fifteen minutes, with the seconds getting longer and longer. She had to go. She was going to be sick. _What if V was hurt?_ _What if her father was hurt and they went to jail? What if V needed her help and Anabel was just waiting stupidly instead of helping?_ Horrible images filled her mind. _So much could happen in fifteen minutes, so much could happen in one second -_

She gasped when a duskull appeared right in front of her. Espeon bolted between them, her teeth bared.

 _Duskull smell fear._

"Is something wrong?" the Jenny in the phone demanded. "Where are you going?"

Anabel straightened. _She had to find V_. "You're taking too much time. The duskull found me," she announced before turning the vidphone off.

"Lead me to him," she told the ghost, keeping Espeon very close. "You have to tell him I'm here anyway."

The duskull looked confused by her reaction, but it hovered greedily around her. _Ghosts_. Soon it was floating towards the mines and she and Espeon were running, pretending that ten other duskull weren't now also following them. _Greedy fear-sucking pests._

Anabel had no time to lose. She ran into the first open door, but it was a creepy room full of superballs with no other doors. The corridor then ended and the elevator needed a key, but there were stairs. Anabel ran down so fast she almost reached the first floor on her butt.

She frowned, shushing Espeon. _Where those voices? No, that wasn't right._

"Where is he?" she urged the group of duskull, who'd gathered around her like a flock of extra-creepy bats.

The floating ghosts seemed drawn to a spot in front of her. _Fear was there recently_ , she understood from their eerie chatter. She shuddered at the thought that fear lingered like a bad smell and places had memories.

But she had to be brave. _What if it was V's fear?_ "Hurry!"

She stopped dead in her tracks when the corridor changed.

Had people fought here? It looked _wrecked_. Had V fought? Anabel's stomach lurched. What if it had collapsed on top of them all?

A muffled man's voice reached her. "… cluster of them." _V's dad, that was his voice!_

"Come on, Espeon!"

Anabel ran, elbowing her way in front of the ghosts. She smiled in desperate relief when she saw Valeria. Gengar was draped over her shoulders like a cat from a nightmare, but it was great to see him too.

And she finally saw that man, Chester. He had a mask over his mouth and nose. V had a mask too.

Anabel's eyes fell to the gun. A _gun. Uh oh._ "Behind me, Espeon," she croaked, pushing her back.

The duskull had all stopped, now hovering undecided around them.

"How did you find us?" the man hissed.

"You shoot her, Gengar's ripping your face off," V said, and she sounded so _serious_ that Anabel stepped back in fear. "Or maybe _I_ will, and we'll blame a metagross. Do something about the duskull."

The air around Gengar began to sizzle, dark purple sparks gathering in a deadly storm, and Anabel remembered how that man at Mr. Cinders' had _screamed_.

"Please," she pleaded, "we don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"Duskull, all of you, go wait for us outside," the man said, his voice hoarse as he lowered the gun. "Valeria, tell your ghost to stop right now!"

"I'd rather see what he can do," V said, something foreign and terrifying in her eyes.

Gengar straightened, doubling in size, his smirk huge and terrifying as the sparks finished gathering into a huge angry shadow ball.

It sailed right for _her_. Anabel screamed, ducking with her body protectively over Espeon as a alien whoosh of wind and lightning filled her ears.

A hand grabbed her. She gasped, struggling for breath as V helped her up. "Ann, we'd never aim for _you,_ " she said, her silver eyes squinting in worry.

The Shadow Ball had sailed well over Anabel's head, blasting the duskull towards the exit. They were alone now. She exhaled deeply, summoning the strength to flash a smile at Espeon.

Espeon pressed herself harder against her, but she looked okay, her eyes narrowed, ready for a fight.

" _Your_ ghosts were being slow, Daddy."

How could any dad be so bad his kid would look at him like _that_?

The air was thick with emotion, burning, grating and dissonant, like a chafing fury that still somehow felt _good_ and sizzled all around V and Gengar.

Anabel swallowed. Valeria was like two different people, her best friend, and this hateful, dangerous person that Anabel wished would disappear.

Metallic sounds made her jolt.

"The noise attracted them," Chester said, his eyes narrowed on his detector. "I'm counting four. More are coming. Valeria, keep the gengar close, we might end up needing him. Stay here."

Anabel instinctively obeyed. He cursed something about 'hibernating'. She frowned.

She stiffened, grabbing onto V when instead of a beldum she saw a _metagross_ , sharp teeth bared. It was so huge and heavy. It would squish her like a bug. And it was _fast_. Chester shot, blasting spores into its face.

The metagross crashed right next to him with a loud clang.

Another was right behind him. V squeezed her hand hard, her eyes just as wide, as they tried to make themselves tiny and disappear.

The second shot missed, sailing right behind the metagross. _Clang, clang, CLANG._ Anabel inhaled sharply. _How many were there?_ She held her breath and pushed Espeon back.

She screamed when the metagross dived before V's dad could get a third shot. Three hooked claws appeared under one of the huge steel legs and ripped into his arm and she couldn't manage a sound as _his_ scream filled everything, scraping against their ears. _Blood. That was blood. So much blood._

 _CLANG!_

Anabel gasped. The metagross had _eaten_ the gun.

It crashed, asleep, _over V's dad_. She could only see his jerking legs.

"They were supposed to be hibernating," V said, blinking slowly.

Anabel disentangled herself from V. She couldn't leave that man there. If there hadn't been the wall, he'd be… she didn't want to think about it. Her ears were ringing and she wasn't sure the moans she was hearing were real.

Except they were.

She crouched between the fainted metagross and the wall. Her eyes widened when she saw the masterballs in the man's belt. That was _exactly_ what she needed. The metagross over him disappeared in no time. V's dad was moving a bit, his eyes shut and his face twisted in pain. _Had he hit his head?_ She shoved the ball in her pocket.

"More are coming," Anabel breathed, glancing at the detector screen on the man's belt. She had _blood_ on her hands. They had to move him. He was so big.

"We need to run, Ann!" V called. "Gengar will protect us."

Anabel nodded in desperate agreement as the ghost flew past her, blue fireballs bubbling all around him. Shuddering, she fumbled for Machop's pokeball, her skin an eerie pink from the shadows now dancing around Gengar.

The shadows merged to form a huge, ugly eye. _Hex_ , her mind whispered, summoning long hours spent hunched over the Pokedex. Anabel forced her attention back on her pokeball as beams of blackish pink energy stormed out of the eye. The poor metagross burnt by the blue flames would be lucky not to faint.

Finally, she had Machop free.

"I'm so sorry to give you this job, Machop," she said hoarsely,"but I need you to keep your hands off his wounded arm and help us get him out."

Machop didn't look happy, but he wasn't panicking either, and while he was less than half V's dad's size, he managed to carry him much better than V and her combined would have.

Anabel turned just in time to see a ball of shadows sending a metang sprawling backwards, but they couldn't win this. The sleeping metang and the first metagross were starting to twitch.

"Hurry!" V insisted. "The stairs are too narrow for them, we'll be safe."

"Machop's going his fastest," Anabel shot back. V's dad's legs were going to be a mess of bruises. They bumped on every single step. She grabbed V's arm, just to make her slow down.

Anabel stumbled, struck by V's sudden emotions. It was like a window shattering, freeing a flood of horror and… _guilt_.

V's eyes were full of nightmares. "It's not too deep. He won't die," she stammered as they reached the stairs, no color left on her face. "The doctors, they'll... How long before the Jennys?"

"Soon," Anabel managed. "Careful, Machop! Keep his head away from the walls."

V had ripped her mask off and looked totally lost.

Soon Gengar, who'd stayed back to buy them time, zoomed above their heads and vanished out of the mine.

"They were supposed to be _hibernating,"_ V whispered hoarsely. _"_ I… I told Gengar to get back to the campsite and wait for us."

"Sure," Anabel said, gasping as they reached the entrance of the mines. "I didn't tell." She'd been concerned Gengar would get her in trouble with Mom and Dad, but now he was the least of her worries.

"V, it's fine," she had to add, because V looked absolutely horrible now.

V giggled. Anabel heard a cry for help. "With Gengar gone, it's even worse. Do you hate me, Ann?"

"Are you crazy?" Anabel said, shaking her head. "No! It's not your fault! He -"

"What I hate the most are the good memories," V whispered. "Almost all my good memories when I was little, he's in them. Dr. Fiori said that's okay, but –"

"Girls!"

Anabel and Valeria spun to see four Jennys rushing towards them.

"Are you alright?" One said while the others rushed for the man. "Is this Chester?"

Anabel nodded. "A metagross attacked him and fell on him."

"He said they were supposed to be hibernating," Valeria repeated, hugging herself.

"They're unstable, that's why we shut the mines down," the Jenny said through clenched teeth. She tried to smile for them, but it was all twisted. Still, Anabel appreciated it. "Come with us, girls. We'll get you back safely to town. He'll go straight to the hospital, and then doubtless straight to jail."

A hysterical giggle left V's lips.

 _Why does this keep happening to us?_ Anabel grasped Machop's hand, made sure Espeon stayed close and let the Jennys lead her to their truck.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading. I hope you're enjoying the ride.**


	31. The Lawful Price

**CHAPTER 31: The Lawful Price**

* * *

 **The holidays are over, so I hope to get back to a more regular schedule, thanks for reading!**

* * *

The room was small, with the light blue walls of a baby's room and the lack of windows of a jail. Valeria's eyes stared unseeing at a large poster on domestic violence. The rumbling air conditioning stole whatever moisture might have been left in her throat.

They were in a waiting room of the police station. They'd been given chocolate and even treats for Espeon and Machop. It was nice. It didn't feel real.

 _She'd almost killed her father._

"We're calling Mom and Dad and telling them everything!" Ann said for the fifth time.

Valeria nodded wordlessly, just like last time. She was seated, her knees tucked under her chin, her tangled hair tumbling down her shoulders. Ann stood and paced, kicking at the floor, on the opposite side of the room.

Valeria didn't blame Ann for not wanting to be anywhere near her

 _The blood._ She'd almost become evil.

"I should have screamed the moment I saw him," she whispered. _She was so dumb_. "I shouldn't have left him go anywhere near that mine. I should've taken the spore gun. We could've -"

"Shut up!" Ann's breath hitched. "It's not your fault _."_ It was, though. She'd dragged Ann into it."We had nothing to do with that experiment stuff they did. Your dad was not supposed to _ever_ come back!"

"He said he could help finding Treecko and Torchic," Valeria muttered. The silence in her mind made her want to weep. Empty, it was so _empty_. She felt powerful then. With Gengar. Now… now everything was wrong.

 _What was she going to tell Mama?_ Gene had never seen Mama cry and panic. He'd never seen what the fear did to her.

A sharp pain stung her shoulder. Ann had _punched_ her.

 _Did that mean they weren't friends anymore?_

"You… You stupid… You almost got _killed_ for Torchic and Treecko?" Ann exclaimed. "I'm over Torchic! They're not ours anymore! They're evolved by now!"

 _Stupid_. _See, even Ann agreed._

Valeria pushed her feet off the chair and sat up straight when a Jenny came back in. It was so hard telling the clones apart. Laugh lines, the creases around their eyes… For the first time, she wondered, were they people for real? Would they understand? Would they send her in jail? She ducked her head, her fingers instinctively trapping themselves in her curls, using them as a curtain.

"Alright, girls, we'll be asking you questions." The voice was confident, righteous, grownup, everything Valeria wasn't. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble, you'll be able to talk to your parents straight after and even come back here with them if you want. It's no problem if you can't remember everything, it happens to everyone." Valeria realized she was shaking. She tightened her shoulders and clasped her hands behind her back. "Just don't lie, that will get you in big trouble."

Ann shook her head sharply. When her eyes met Valeria's, Valeria couldn't hold her gaze.

"We'll be talking to you two separately, that's the rules. Do you want more chocolate before we start?"

Valeria was barely able to breathe, let alone eat. She wanted it to be over. She forced her hands to push her hair back, off her face. She made herself look up. "What do you want to know, Ma'am?"

The Jenny smiled, but she was in uniform, they always were, a uniform that said _power_ and reminded Valeria that what she wanted mattered very little.

"I'll be asking you about everything that happened today. We caught a gengar outside the mines. I assume he's the gengar registered to your pokedex, Valeria."

 _Gengar?_ Valeria's lower lip began to tremble. _No! How -_ "How did you catch him?"

"They have ninjask," Ann mumbled. "They told me they'd use their ninjask to get the duskull."

"We didn't hurt him. We'd like to know why he was fleeing, and how you caught him." The Jenny didn't look or sound mad. Still, Valeria's eyes stung. "Owning a pokemon is not a crime, Valeria. We just need the truth so we can help you."

 _Help her_. Valeria swallowed. _Was the Jenny friendly for real?_ Ann would say the truth. That's what good people did.

Valeria had almost let her father _die_. She didn't… she…

She took a shaky breath. She wanted to be good. "I can talk right now, if you want, Ma'am."

The Jenny had faded scars on her right hand, lots of small and bigger scars all over her palm and all the way up to her wrist.

Jenny flexed her burnt hand. "A fire," she said. "The innocents were saved and the guilty arrested."

Valeria's eyes snapped back to the officer. The woman's tone had made it clear her burnt hands were off limits for questions. Jenny's new smile felt softer, though. Valeria found it easier to collect her thoughts.

Except for the eevee being twins, she told the Jenny everything. _Sorry, Mr. Cinders. We had no choice._

Jenny promised her that Lysias Chester was going to jail, or confined residency if he behaved, for _years_. Valeria was still mad, though, because they'd let him be free for so long because what he'd done to her and Mama apparently _wasn't crime enough_.

Her throat clenched. She'd not seen the blood at first, she'd been too caught up the in _the fear_. His fear. It had swept her up, sharpening all her senses and it had felt so enthralling.

 _CRUNCH._ If instead of around the spore gun that metagross' teeth had closed over her father's body…

"Please hand over the gengar's pokeball, he will be more comfortable in it."

"I want to talk to him first! How long before he can come back with me, Ma'am? I'll convince him to say everything about the poachers, I promise, Ma'am."

Valeria's fingers were white around the miniaturized ball. She couldn't, she just _couldn't_ , give it to them without seeing him first.

Jenny had gone tense _. Oh no_. "There are some precautions to take with such pokemon. First, Gengar will be needed in Lavaridge to help with investigations. Then, there is the matter of the telepathic connection. I'm not sure I can let you keep him."

 _What?_ V grabbed the sides of the chair to steady herself. _WHAT!_

"You can't be serious," she whispered. She felt so tiny, the silence in her mind mocking her.

 _Why had she told them Gengar could mindspeak? She was so DUMB!_

"Valeria, you're eleven. Your personality and brain are taking shape and will do so until adulthood. Having a human sharing thoughts with you would be unhealthy enough, but this gengar is... Gengar is a ghost, and ghosts have very little empathy, thrive on fear and seek to be the center of attention. That is _not_ a good mindset for a human being."

 _But... no! Jenny couldn't! "_ He's not a bad influence on me! I'm a good influence on him! He doesn't try to make me do things." _Gengar was hers! He wanted to be with her! This was theft!_ "He _has_ empathy, he had loads of human masters to-"

"Yes," the Jenny cut in, "and they were such _decent_ people."

Valeria flinched. _Was she saying Gengar had turned them bad? That wasn't at all –_

"After the investigations, you'll see a specialist. Like a therapist, but used to dealing with these situations. If they say Gengar's influence isn't a bad one, you can take him back."

Suddenly, the Jenny officer looked less mean. "So there will be tests, Ma'am?" She made herself speak slowly, so her tone couldn't slip away from her. Manners was the only thing she had left. "To make sure Gengar doesn't make me go evil?" The woman nodded and Valeria tried to look confident. _She had to convince them!_ "How long will the investigations take, Officer?"

"Call me in two weeks. Not before. I expect to have an answer by then." Jenny gave her another sympathetic smile. "It shouldn't be _too_ long, Valeria."

Two weeks was already way too long. Her shoulders stiff with stress, Valeria forced herself to nod.

Jenny stood up. "Ball Gengar when you're done talking to him. Please leave the pokeball on the table."

' _Don't do anything dumb.'_ The woman didn't say it, but she didn't have to.

Oo*oOo*oO

They'd reminded her that Ann was waiting. Ann would have to understand, though.

The room was tiny and bare, windowless. Even the lights were dim. Gengar was there, slumped on the lone table, almost shapeless, his red-eyes dull. Valeria's fingers trembled around her pokeball.

 _Gengar's old masterball had crunched so easily under her foot._

She wiped sweat out of her eyes. She felt dizzy, feverish. _It was so silent._ Everything was wrong.

"Milord?" The whisper filled the room. Taunting her. She was so tiny. So weak.

Even the cold aura seemed… mild. It was so _silent_. He didn't want to be with her anymore. She'd failed him.

She stumbled, her knees not holding her anymore. She gripped the closest chair. _He hated her._ Sobs began tearing through her body. She couldn't stop them.

"I'm so sorry," she gasped. ~I'm so sorry!~

Suddenly, she wasn't alone. Coolness broke through the panic overwhelming her, filling the painful emptiness. Gengar echoed back her apology, laced with confusion.

She had to strain to even feel him.

"They said they hadn't hurt you!" This time it was no whisper. Valeria flinched at the echo. It was like being buried alive.

~I am not hurt, just beaten in battle. The clones would be fools to have underpowered pokemon.~

His voice was a soft whisper, a brush of cold wind. _He wasn't angry at her?_

"I wanted you to be free, instead I got you _caught_!" It was getting easier to breathe. She chuckled despite herself, her emotions tugging her in a thousand directions. "How can you be confused that I'm sorry! I don't want you to go away! I like you! I told them about the mindspeak. I'm dumb. I shouldn't have. I'm sorry! I'm-"

~I failed you, cub. I let him take you. I failed to evade the clones' bugs. You were right: decades of obeying orders has diminished me.~

 _What?_ Valeria stood back up and shook her head. "I should have screamed and run instead of going in that truck. What could _he_ have done? Made the duskull attack me, one street away from patrolling Jennys?"

She'd been cowed into obeying Dad when instead it hadn't been at all like _before_. She'd been out in the open, among allies. She'd given him all the power. This was _her_ fault.

"The Jenny said that once they stop needing you for their investigation, you can stay with me. We just need to prove to their specialist person that you won't make me bad."

The cold hardened, yet it was smooth. It was like being wrapped in a hug. Gengar's eyes glinted in a way that made her feel oddly special as he hovered closer to her.

He didn't hate her. She wasn't alone.

"Were you ever friends?" she whispered. "With your masters, I mean?"

~With some, yes, if only for a time. Friendship was rarely necessary, cub.~

"I don't understand."

Swirls of emotions and memories flickered at the edge of her mind. It was all too fast, and like trying to read a book underwater. An echo of thrill stuck to those memories. Some things she managed to piece together: his masters wanted him to scare people. He fed on fear. But he also fed on his masters' fear of _him_. Those masters that brought him adventure at the price of chains.

"You wanted them to be scared of you?"

~It was the way things were. There are orders I knew to obey, but why please and seek still waters when there is such richness in conflict? One of my masters said my defiance kept him sharp. His fear, his anger, was for him a small price to pay. We had a pact.~

"So… your last master broke that pact?~

Gengar crossed his paws. He was almost the perfect pokedex image. He could take so many shapes, so why this one?

~You are different,~ he finally replied, his deep, alien voice chasing away her thoughts and fears. ~I want this change.~

Gengar slowly changed shape to look like a shadowy version of Eeveevee.

A grin lit up Valeria's face. Her eyes shining, she tentatively reached out, her finger brushing the dark-purple fur. It felt like cotton and ice. She didn't quite dare pick _Gengar_ up, though.

~The clones will have my cooperation. I have a task for you.~

~Sure,~ Valeria mind-whispered, now nervous.

~Read about pokemon like me. Find what they will look for. Be convincing when the tests come.~ He grinned toothily, deforming Eeveevee's face into something impossible. ~I am counting on you, cub.~

Valeria laughed. Gengar-Eeveevee wasn't cute, it looked too predatory, too ghostly. The eyes were Gengar's and had none of the innocent wonder of her favorite fluffball.

She couldn't imagine giving him up.

"Hurry up to tell the Jennys everything, Milord."

He scowled. Valeria's heart skipped a beat.

 _He would speak, wouldn't he? He had to! He –_

Valeria gasped when her mind expanded, sharpened by the sudden scent of fear in the air. _Her_ fear.

"You -"

Gengar smirked. ~You now understand my predicament. Is there place for fear, in friendship?~

Valeria blinked. _He'd just given her a heart attack on purpose?_ "You don't have to mess with me. Don't have a thousand years' worth of scary stories about evil people to share?" Her breath caught excitedly. " _Are you_ one thousand, Milord?"

The shadow-Eeveevee straightened, its 'fur' growing longer, its body thinner, with a more solemn, _older_ , aura to it. ~Two-hundred and seven winters, cub.~

Eeveevee's ghost-like smirk turned Valeria's gaping mouth into another wide grin.

 _Two hundred._ He had to have _so_ many stories.

~Secure my freedom. You will have your stories.~

Valeria nodded sharply, her smile gone. She was _not_ losing him.

Oo*oOo*oO

"You're not returning the metagross?"

Anabel lifted her eyes from the masterball in her hand as V finally joined her back in the waiting room. Espeon lay on the rest of the couch, her head possessively resting on Anabel's lap. _'She's yours. Nobody's going to take her away.'_ Those were the most beautiful words the Jenny had said.

"Are you alright?" Anabel breathed. They'd told her that V couldn't keep Gengar.

"Fine. I just hate waiting."

"You're not going to try and steal him, right?"

V sighed. Anabel could tell it was more a matter of V having no plan than V not wanting to do it. But it was just a couple of weeks, and then no more trouble. It'd be disloyal to tell V, but Anabel was secretly glad. Shedding the lies made her feel so much lighter already.

V had narrowed her eyes again at the masterball. "How?"

"I asked if I could keep it…" _Would V be angry that she got to keep a pokemon while she had Gengar taken away?_

"Why would you want it?" V just sounded curious.

"The lady I spoke to said they're weak. Even the metagross are still beldum, sort of. They were forced to merge because of the electromagnetic pulse stuff, but they weren't ready to evolve." That was why Gengar had blasted them back and knocked them out like natu. "There are a lot of other pokemon in that mine that the Jennys and Rangers have to take care of. I… I just… It attacked because we threatened it. It must be so confused…"

She had to do _something_. She had to make things right.

"Maybe I can fix it," she finished. "The Jennys are as clueless as we are, so they're giving me a chance."

Metagross were psychic types, like Espeon. She'd maybe be able to tell what it was feeling. The Jenny had made her promise to free it with her pokemon out and her parents around. She'd also made her promise to call if it was too much to handle, or if the Rangers or a scientist figured out how to reverse the evolution. Anabel stared at the white-and-purple ball through narrowed eyes. She wanted to succeed so bad.

"Or maybe it'll bite your head off," V said tightly.

A shudder ran up Anabel's spine. She had to be brave. "We'll be careful. If it tries, I'll hand it over."

"I didn't tell them, that you're good with feelings," V said after a tense pause. _At least she wasn't telling Anabel to leave Metagross behind._ "You must have impressed them, they must be sure you can handle the risk."

Anabel smiled a little. "I didn't tell either. I mean, I said I'm _good_ , but a lot of people say that. Maybe I'm just normal-good."

"Ann, we need codes," V said, abruptly lowering her voice. "So that we can always speak freely, like when my father stole my vidphone. To get important things through, like 'I'm not safe' or 'don't call the Jennys' or ' _do_ call the Jennys' or - "

"'I've freed Gengar'," Anabel joked with a knowing smile. "You should pick one of your classmate's names as his code-name, so it's not suspicious and you can say 'Nico's staying at my place' or something like that."

V's silver eyes went scheming. "That's brilliant. It must be simple codes. We can't write it down and we must remember it. We could say 'I'm very safe' to mean 'I'm safe', and if we say 'I'm safe' it means we're not sure, and if we say 'I'm safe enough' that means -"

"'Help, come get me!'" Anabel finished with a nervous laugh, grasping both V's hands and realizing she couldn't let go.

 _Codes._ They were doing _codes_. _For real life._

Her throat clenched at the thought of home. _What were Mom and Dad going to say?_

"Mama told me to take the 11 o'clock bus," V said after a pause, her head resting on Anabel's shoulder. "She won't care about Rosie, Darren and Nova. She wants me home. You, though, if you want to eat with them -"

"No, no... I… I can't see them right now. Not even Seth."

 _Ghosts, how could she and V explain?_

"I need to go ask the Jennys something," she whispered to Espeon, who grudgingly let her stand.

She walked out of the room and nervously walked up to the nearest officer. The woman lifted her eyes from her computer and stood up before Anabel had to say anything.

"We… we were meeting friends for lunch," Anabel stammered. "Could you… could you call them and –"

"Say you helped us catch a very bad man at the mines and have to go home? That you'll call later, tonight or tomorrow?"

Anabel's eyes widened in relief. "That'd be awesome."

* * *

 **And now we're going to hit the last arc of this story. Please review.**


	32. A Peculiar Punishment

**CHAPTER 32: A Peculiar Punishment**

* * *

The wind was warm and tickled their noses. Rustboro didn't stink, but city air had something sticky and heavy to it that Anabel didn't really care for. She buried her balled hands deeper in her pockets, the sandwich she'd eaten too fast weighing on her stomach.

 _They hadn't done anything_ wrong _._ _They'd fixed their problems and done what it took to journey. They'd not cheated or hurt anyone!_

 _You lied_ , her mind whispered back. _You kept lying to Mom and Dad_. _You're going to see them now, and they'll know. What will they think of you now?_

She and V stood at the edge of the bus station (which was still a sight bigger than the Verdanturf one, with a whole handful of bus lines and stops), waiting alongside families with little kids and groups of friends, adults all of them, who were riding out to Verdanturf and Mauville for holidays.

"Mom, look, _trainers_!"

Anabel's tight lips became a smile. She stood up straighter. _At least… at least she'd made it._

"They must have pokemon," he whispered in that whisper of little kids who don't know how not to be loud. "Say, could I ask to _touch_ one?"

It was a little boy, maybe six, all wide eyes and overflowing awe. How could Anabel _not_ show Espeon off?

"I'll be like you when I grow up," he announced after a time, eyes never leaving Espeon. Espeon hadn't looked too sure of what to make of the tiny human, but basking in his admiration was something she took in stride. He pointed at V. "Is she your girlfriend?"

V, slightly hunched and half a world away, raised her eyebrows. "Ah, now that your hair's so short, Ann, it seems we'll get questions." She giggled, shedding some of the tension that had been clinging to her since her Dad had been mauled.

Anabel grinned, happy to see V lighten up.

The kid scrunched up his features in an 'oops' face. "You're a _girl_. Okay. Still cool. Sorry."

Anabel didn't dare ruffle his hair like she'd seen other parents do to little kids, but she laughed. It felt good. Seeing the boy's mom and dad, and even the standoffish (much) older brother, pet Espeon and smile was even better. She couldn't quite name why, except it was like a bubble of warm calm was growing in her chest and pushing the bad away.

The moment she fastened her seatbelt in the big bus' cushy seat, her eyelids began to droop.

Anabel slept all the way from Rustboro to Verdanturf. V had to nudge her to remind her to get off. V'd slept too. Her hair was a total mess of rumpled tangles. Anabel playfully tugged on a curl, making the lock triple in length.

V huffed hard, sending all the locks over her eyes flying in the air.

Their muffled laughter and a silently squeezed hand was the only goodbye they had time for.

As Anabel rode the last of the way home, her brain was an dull empty buzz. Everything was so familiar, so… unchanged. _Except…_

She pedaled harder. It's like she couldn't find her balance.

The house was almost just like she'd left it: the garden lush, the terrace messy and a slightly unfinished look to the house itself. The second floor windows had been repainted while she was away. She liked the blue.

She didn't have to knock. Dad opened before she'd reached the door. He smiled and opened his arms.

Something melted in Anabel. A laugh that was half sob tore out of her lungs and she dived into his hug.

It was weird. It wasn't weird at all. He was holding her too tight but she squeezed tighter herself. It wasn't an everyday hug. Everything had changed. Nothing had changed. It was Dad. It was home.

Suddenly, Anabel's arms and the air all around was full of Mom.

The hugs ended, leaving silence and louder gazes. Anabel's head spun.

"Before anything happens, there's something I must do," Anabel blurted.

She rushed to her room, stomping up the stairs.

She let herself fall backwards on her bed and let out a stunned gasp. It was so _comfortable_. Her eyes fell on the crookedly stacked puzzles, then roamed over to the coloring books, her sewing machine and her theater full of sock-puppets: all the things that had filled her after-school hours and that she'd barely had the time to miss during her Journey.

Lungs heavy from the smells of home, Anabel felt like she'd taken a jump backwards. It was weird, but _safe_. Ghosts, she'd almost forgotten.

Mom stepped in sight and leaned against the doorframe. "You can take your covers and hide under them on the couch," she said with her teasing smile. It had a sharpness Anabel wasn't used to. "But we're talking in the living-room."

It was hard _not_ to take the covers, but Anabel wanted to show that she was proud of her Journey, so she walked back downstairs her head high.

This _couldn't_ be the end. She'd just started. She had no idea what she'd do, what she'd want, if she didn't journey. She was a one with barely half a team. And V still lived a whole town away.

Dad kissed her and patted the spot next to him, but Anabel didn't quite dare and went to the empty armchair. _Grandma's armchair_. That made it a bit of an ally. Anabel hesitated, but then she dove her hand in her belt-pouch. This, journeying, wasn't just about _her_ anymore.

Mom and Dad frowned as Espeon appeared. They still didn't _get_ it.

"You stay there, Love." Anabel smiled because there was nothing to be guilty or nervous about. She didn't need permission for Espeon. It was her home too now.

Espeon curled at her feet, her wide eyes on Mom and Dad. She didn't look spooked. Anabel finally sat down, her back ramrod straight. She was too short to slouch, especially now.

"Did you miss us at all?" Dad said, his smile not wide enough and his eyebrows too arched.

Anabel swallowed. It was at Mr. Cinders' that the homesickness had been the worst, but even then there had been so much to do, so many pokemon... "Of course I did! That's why I made sure to train so hard, so it'd be worth it."

"You trained as an obligation?" Mom said with a frown.

"No, I… I loved it too, I did! But… isn't that the point?"

"It is." Dad had no idea how relieved those two words made her. "We just want to make sure you didn't pretend to be happy."

"Wha- No! I didn't, I promise! You… you want the whole truth now."

"Better late than never," Mom said with a thin smile.

 _Right._

Anabel had expected shouts, big life lessons, immediate punishment... and was still waiting for them. Dad interrupted her sometimes to ask for some facts, a rare stern look on his face that meant _later_ , and Mom looked more and more dismayed as Anabel went on.

Anabel had never felt so bad about anything. She'd needed Espeon _closer_ , and now her not-so-little-one-anymore was all around her on the armchair, stiff and alert, a warm beacon of support.

Espeon was so strong and beautiful: her parents _had to_ see that she wasn't a bad trainer and had to be allowed go back on her Journey.

"So… V's dad will go to jail," Anabel finished with a weak smile. This morning. It had just been this morning. Ghosts, it was so _weird_ , being back home. "But the Jennys said we didn't do anything worth losing our Licenses over." She straightened, desperate for the right words. "Most of it was heaps of fun! We have the video of our badge battle and-" the look on Dad's face made her swallow. She felt so lame.

Mom giggled, her eyes far away. "Using ditto to fake pokemon… And the lies were really good, most… Of course you had help, that Mr. Cinders… We're the idiots for not calling the Professor to double-check about Torchic –"

"Trainers are supposed to deal with their own stuff," Anabel muttered, unnerved. _When was the shouting going to start?_

"I would've come to see you earlier in Lavaridge. I would've come more often." Dad's voice made her flinch, but he was staring at Mom. "Byrde told me _not to_. Made me feel I was being overprotective. That I'd ruin the whole experience."

"Mom couldn't have known, Max. Stolen pokemon and criminals? What were the odds?"

"Statistics would have been _such_ comfort if she'd been hurt!"

"Please don't fight," Ann whispered.

The three of them took a deep breath at the same time.

"The months at the breeding farm did sound like great experience," Mom said, a bit too brightly, "despite the illegality and the fact Mr. Cinders could have exploited you much worse than he did."

"We would have left!" Anabel protested, but her parents' looks made her duck her face once more. "He didn't exploit us, we got paid…"

"You know why that man hired you?" Dad's voice was shaking slightly, and Anabel couldn't tell if it was anger, fear or disappointment making his face so tight and his eyes so narrowed, but she lost an inch with every sentence. "Let me tell you, Bells: Mr. Cinders has the money to hire ten grownups, but he is part of a poacher ring, and so he needed people he could manipulate to stay quiet. He needed people who _didn't see_. A whole cellar full of medicine? Five female eevee out of six kits? Shiny pokemon? _Fossils_? This man is just smart enough to keep his business and experimenting low-key. He told you his other employees had left, but you don't know the true story. Clearly, he is not on the best of terms with other members of this ring. Maybe the farm is neutral territory, shared breeding grounds... He –"

"He must subconsciously want there to be an investigation," Mom cut in with a small smile, and Anabel dared breathe again. "Hiring the girls was a fool's move, Max. The Jennys will handle it now."

Dad rubbed his hand on his forehead. "When did you decide we weren't trustworthy? What were you afraid of?"

Anabel couldn't meet his eyes. "We wanted to get badges and prove we were doing well before we said anything. And Gengar, well… V insisted, but the Jennys said Gengar had to stay with them, so I guess she was right…" Anabel took a deep breath. "What could you have done except worry or tell me to come home?"

She started when Mom giggled. _It was really scary._ "Ten years old and already too wise for any kind of advice."

Dad wasn't laughing _at all_. Anabel winced when she realized the guilt in her chest wasn't all hers. She hated the feeling, all slime and suffocating mud.

"Dad, how is any of this _your_ fault?"

"You told me I hated trainers," he said glumly. "You thought that one mistake and we'd drag you home, no matter how important this was to you. So you ended working in a poacher breeding farm."

Anabel looked down again, her lilac eyes misting over. Baby poliwhirl, the beautiful persian mom, V's beloved riolu, Piloswine... Aerodactyl and all those they'd seen hatch… those they'd watched learn to walk, talk, and figure out their place in the world, while she and V took care of them as best they could. It had been hard work, but also magical. And _Azu_. If not for Azu battling so well, she'd never have travelled with Seth and the guys.

"I don't regret it," she whispered stubbornly. She squared her jaw and met her parents' eyes. "I _can't_. It'd be lying."

Battling Roxanne, even just watching V, had been so _awesome_. She couldn't wait to do it again.

Dad moved over from the couch. He sat on the armrest's arm and put an arm around her shoulders. Anabel let her face drop in his chest, her own arms still tight around Espeon.

"Ann, this is too complicated for a single conversation," he said softly, "but you can't lie to us like that. Honestly, both you and V handled _most_ things pretty well. Jirachi was on your side."

Anabel's eyes began to overflow. She pushed Espeon off. Dad pulled her into a full hug. Anabel held on tight, tears filling her eyes as she breathed in the scent of his shampoo. _She didn't want to cry._

"Bells, you don't have to make a choice between growing up and being close to us."

"I'm so sorry, Dad," Anabel whispered fiercely.

Mom patted her knees and Anabel moved to her lap, her lips twitching at the growing _you're in trouble_ grin on Mom's face. That grin wasn't used for big punishments.

Mom groaned as Anabel sat. " _Oof_. And they say trainers don't eat well during their Journeys."

Anabel huffed. "It was never _that_ bad."

Mom's fingers stroked her hair. "Brave at your age, to go so short," Mom whispered with a wink. Anabel beamed.

"Do you have Chester's jail's address?" Dad grumbled, crossing his thick arms. He could hurt someone bad with a punch, if he ever wanted to. "I might want to have a word or two."

"Max, don't start," Mom warned. "Who'd take care of Anabel if we got arrested for murder? Besides, we'd got to different jails. No fun at all."

 _Uh, Mom?_ First the giggling, now straight-faced joking about murder and jail… _It was joking, right?_ _Right?_

Dad didn't look too concerned. "Byrde would watch the kid."

" _Dad_ ," Anabel protested. "That's not funny. I don't want to go live with Grandma!"

Dad stood up. He smiled, making some of her worry melt away. "We're going on a trip, just the three of us, on the islands."

"A holiday?" _What had she done to deserve a holiday?_

"We've submitted our drafts, Ann. Now it's just the last corrections: your parents will be real adults at long last," Dad said with a growing smile. "We're treating ourselves to three whole weeks. It'll be great."

"Now, _now_? Or in November when I can't travel anymore?" Seth had said they could end the year fives but only if they trained really hard and didn't take many breaks -

" _Now,_ " Dad snapped. "You can go travel when we come back."

 _Holidays._ Anabel could tell from her parents faces that her reaction wasn't right. She was supposed to be thrilled and yet sudden panic squeezed her lungs.

"You won't stop me from travelling in March, right? If... if my Journey ends this year... I… I can't stop -" _She'd promised to meet with Seth in March, if-_ "I -"

"We'll see," Dad said. "So we've booked –"

"No," Anabel whispered. " _No_ ," she said more loudly. "You want the truth, you don't want me to trick you like I did to leave? That's the truth: I want to go. I _will_ win more badges. I want to battle. I want to catch more pokemon and not give up Espeon, or any of them, not now, not until I'm ready. I won't go to secondary next year. I'll be with V, travelling."

"Speh!"

Anabel started. She'd almost forgotten Espeon. A shaky smile dug in her cheeks at seeing her pokemon standing tall, no doubt at all that Anabel would indeed do as she had just said.

"If you want a two year Journey," Mom cut in, "You'll have a two year Journey. I promise." She sighed. "Mom would smuggle you to Unova if we refused anyway."

 _They really weren't going to stop her from traveling._ Astonished delight brought a grin on Anabel's face. A holiday. Her parents would be doctors _, finally._ "Where are we going? Is Espeon allowed?"

Mom clapped her hands together. "She's _requested_! We'd love get to know her better, and don't want to hire a pokemon escort if we want to go explore. We'll talk about the metagross later." But Anabel wasn't scared anymore. "We don't want Skarmory around people who might have shiny things, so he should be stored, as well as Machop."

Anabel frowned. _She didn't want to argue, but -_ "Maybe I can lend them to V," she mused, "Machop at least. V might want to battle while –"

 _V... Ghosts_. Would she be annoyed if Anabel left for two whole weeks? _How expensive could it be? Maybe V could –_

"V needs to spend some time with her mom and Gene," Dad said, as if he'd read her mind. "You'll be able to call her."

Anabel nodded. _Would V mind keeping Machop?_ She smiled, her nervousness melting away when Espeon gingerly went up to Dad, her bearing adorably solemn as she glanced back towards Anabel.

"Speh es-peh-on, speh-on?" _What do I do?_

"Espeon, Dad, Dad, Espeon," Anabel said, holding back a giggle as Dad expectantly raised twin eyebrows. "You can scratch her head, she likes that."

She jumped when her vidphone rang."Ghosts, it's Seth," she mumbled. "If I keep telling him 'later'. He's going to hate me."

"Put him on, we'll tell him," Mom said. "He'll know it's serious."

"And we'll tell it in a way that won't betray V's privacy," Dad added knowingly.

Anabel grinned and picked up. She had the best parents.

 **August 17th 341 – Monday**

"Skarmory get off the roof, you're heavier than you think! Come back here!" Anabel grinned. "I have a present for you."

First, she put a rope collar with a waterproof sign around his neck. _'If I'm in trouble, please call 36 010-035 and ask for Anabel'_ it read.

"Comfortable?" Anabel checked. "Now, I promised you a shiny toy, right?"

Skarmory ruffled his steel feathers, pawing the ground eagerly with one leg. He let out an appreciative gurgling cry when she pulled out a thick bracelet to wrap around his ankle.

"It'll sparkle under the light: these are crystals, but they're plastic, so they're solid. You can bump them all you want and I can get another anyway if it gets ruined. They go under water too." Anabel laughed as Skarmory twisted himself around to get the bracelet in the sun and his eyes right next to it. "Stomp your leg on the ground."

Skamory did, jumping back in surprise when the crystals lit up blue. "Skar!"

"Do it again," Anabel urged.

Blue, red, yellow, green, purple… the colors were random and the lights sometimes flashed briefly and other times danced across the crystal for almost ten seconds. Skarmory was entranced and Anabel just _knew_ that she had to find something that put the same joy in each of her pokemon's eyes.

"Skarmory, skar?"

"Of course you can keep it on all the time." She took a big breath. She'd miss him. "You'd better not get in trouble! Whatever you do, you stay away from people and the city, and if there's trouble, you _flee_ , you don't fight." Anabel huffed at the sudden guilt in the huge bird's eyes. You'd think he'd _already_ gotten in trouble. "Hey, I know you'll be alright, I'm saying this just to be safe," she said softly. "I'd rather get a call from the Jennys than see you hurt bad, Skarmory, but be careful around people. You're strong, you could hurt them. Besides, some people are bad."

It just didn't feel fair to store him.

"If I ever lose my wedding ring again, I'll know who to ask," Mom joked, waving the golden band around her finger at Skarmory who went very still, his eyes widening in keen interest.

Anabel was glad to see that Skarmory kept his sharp beak down and stayed back.

"Remember, I'll be away two weeks," she stressed. "That's three days after the next full moon. Try to come back soon after we do."

"He was wild not a month ago," Dad said with an eyeroll. "He's a big guy. Come load the car with us, Bells."

She was ready. It was going to be awesome.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading^^!**


	33. Seeking Profit

**CHAPTER 33: Seeking Profit**

 _AN: I've adjusted the poke-dollar system to make 10 poke approx 1$. Basically, a pokeball, costing 200 (=20$), is affordable, but not so cheap people will waste them._

 **August 13th 341 – Wednesday**

Mama was very quiet as she cleared the breakfast table. Valeria stayed seated, her fingers twirling her curls by habit.

Mama kissed Valeria's forehead and took her bowl away. Still quiet.

The silence grew, until it was too much. Valeria took a sharp breath. "The doctor said you're not allowed to talk to me, when you're mad?"

Yesterday Mama had asked and asked, getting all excited and holding Valeria tight as they watched all the pictures she had taken. It had been nice. It hadn't been Mama, though. It had been The Mother. The one Mama had decided Valeria needed.

Valeria still had to send Dr. Fiori that congratulations card for the baby. Maybe if Dr. Fiori said, Mama would realize her new therapist was wrong. Valeria didn't need everything to be perfect, whatever that even was. She wanted things to be _true_.

"I'm not mad, Vali."

Mama was an even worse liar than Ann."You're going to tell Gene why you're mad?"

"Treasure, it's not like that. Gene's not taking anything away from you. I –"

 _Not again_. "Mama, I left you with him. I'd not have if he'd been bad." Valeria trusted Gene. She just didn't like him that much. She wished Mama didn't need her to like him. "You _are_ angry, though. I… I won't hate you if it's because I left."

It was harder to pretend she didn't care when Mama came up behind her and wrapped her arms tight around her shoulders.

"I'm angry because he found you," Mama whispered, her lips kissing her temple. "I _knew_ he would find you. I asked Robin to tell me, when Ann sent her morning texts." _Seriously? Why hadn't Mama just asked-_ "I had to know it was all fine. Now… now he's in jail." A smile entered Mama's voice. "He's gone. He can't find us." She laughed softly, grasping Valeria's hand and lifting her upright, her eyes wide and looking at her as if she'd never seen her before. "Look at you, you _put_ him in jail." Mama's sharp intake of breath whistled past Valeria's ears. "Yes,Vali, I'm mad. Mad that you saw him again. Mad that the Jennys called and I had to hear his name." Mama giggled. The sound rang sharp. "I shouldn't be. Everything's good now."

 _Everything's good now._ Valeria smiled shakily. Mama had been scared every day since Valeria had left. _Everything's good now_. Mama had sounded happy on the phone. Almost like she didn't miss Valeria at all. Deep down, Valeria had known it had been pretense. She had been glad, though. _Everything's good now_.

Valeria's mind felt too big, too empty. Gengar would've been able to tell, if Mama was still scared now.

"I called my mama."

Valeria's eyebrows flew up. Mama's mama had left back to Alola years ago, before Valeria had been born. That's why Grandpa had become sad, even before his brain had started to die.

"I've let the past drag me down too long," Mama said. "Mama sent me the pictures she had of Bo and I." _Who?_ She smiled, her eyes lost in a different time. "My… ex-boyfriend? It never became all that serious. We saw each other on and off all my thirties, almost. We were such kids."

"What went wrong?" _A boyfriend._ Years and years of Mama's life Valeria knew nothing of.

Mama sighed. "Mama left and I had to take care of Dad. I couldn't stand seeing Dad so… lost. I put everything on hold for him. It… I… Bo couldn't stand it. He felt sidelined. I felt betrayed by his lack of support... A year later he was gone." _So… did that mean Bo was someone Valeria should hate?_ "He's married now. No kids. He never wanted any. That was also why… Bo called, you know? I was with… with Lysias by then… It was better to pretend Bo had never existed."

Mama leaned against the wall, a deep frown on her face as she looked for words. "I… I don't think I'm mad at Mama anymore. Or Bo. Not that I want to see him." She took a slow breath. "Treasure, jail does fix many people. They have doctors and they don't let you hide. It's not like your stories with tiny cells and bad-tempered guards that make sure you suffer. Those were centuries ago." _Oh_. Suffering sounded well deserved, though."He'll be out one day and if you want to see him... We'll… be careful. That's all."

Suddenly it was so easy to grin. Valeria couldn't remember the last time Mama had talked about Dad willingly, in a calm voice.

"I won't _ever_ want to see him."

Mama smiled slightly, as if it was a kid thing to say. "I think you'll get curious, one day."

Valeria shrugged. "Maybe when he's super old and can't follow me if I chose to run away."

Mama laughed, her whole face crinkling and lighting up. She cleared her throat. "Would you come with me on Friday? We can talk together with Dr. Kim."

 _Together?_ Valeria closed the distance between them and wrapped Mama in a hug."We're talking now."

"You left when I stopped making you bear my burdens. You stopped feeling responsible for me. You were free to do what _you_ wanted. That's how it's meant to be, Treasure." Mama sighed. "I'm terrible at finding a balance. I'd like Dr. Kim to help us figure it out."

"I'll come."

"Great," Mama whispered, her fingers affectionately digging in Valeria's curls as she bent down to kiss her hair. "Would you please have lunch with Gene?" Valeria pulled back, her eyes narrowing. "I was thinking we could do something nice all together tomorrow."

The _please_ sounded like begging and reminded Valeria she'd barely said hello to the man the day before. She'd not wanted to share the journey pictures with _him_.

Mama's wide expectant stare was cheating.

"I'll eat with him, Mama." It couldn't be so hard. "I'll be nice."

She walked Mama to work. Mama walked tall and relaxed. Her eyes didn't flicker nervously to every face, and her grip on Valeria's hand was soft. For the first time, Valeria found Mauville pretty and realized she wanted to get to know the city. Her eyes were wide, drinking every detail.

Verdanturf's pokemart had been a cute little house not so different from the rest, sitting at the edge of town under a proud sign pointing trainers to the Battle Tent. In Mauville, the wind blew strong and salty. Everything was _bigger_. A huge four-floor bright-colored building, selling everything from clothes to pot-plants, hugged a large square that filled with stands twice a week for market day. It wasn't yet eight-thirty, but the air already sang with haggling voices and enticing bargains.

"I have a couple of boring things to buy," Mama said. "You can go look around."

Valeria hurried through the sparse crowd, pausing to gawk at a fat man selling gnarly wooden lamps that looked like they'd been grown instead of carved. One day, she'd be rich, and she'd buy _everything_.

Air conditioning freed her from the clingy heat as soon as she passed the automatic doors to the yellow building. Valeria stopped at the pokemart's entrance, where five lined-up transfer machines greeted the passing customers.

Her vidphone pinged.

' _I'm in the clear. Don't send me anymore Rangers. Stay safe.'_

Valeria smiled in relief. She'd warned Mr. Cinders as soon as she'd sat down in the bus to Mauville. Without him, they'd have had no Journey.

She itched to ask how it was in Lavaridge, if they'd caught Gengar's old master, if he'd heard news of Gengar, _anything_. She didn't dare. She'd made enough of a mess already. The Jenny had said to wait.

She removed the pokeball now holding Machop from the transfer machine. Her eyes crinkled.

' _I don't want you to be jealous.'_ Ann had said. _'We'll go on holidays together one day, V, I promise.'_ As if Valeria would be jealous. She'd been so terrified that Max and Robin would forbid Ann from ever seeing her again that she had no space left for nasty emotions.

Well, she was a _little bit_ jealous. Ann didn't have to know, though. Valeria hurried back to the pokemart.

"V, please take this home," Mama said, handing her a full bag. "Just things for the house, and ten Berries, those are for you. We'll go to the beach for a swim before dinner, just you and me."

"Brilliant!" Valeria gave Mama one last hug. She double-checked Mama's bag. Nothing had to go in the fridge, so she hurried for the battling grounds.

Ann hadn't given her Machop for groceries. Valeria had some money to make.

Oo*oOo*oO

Valeria walked merrily through the door at half past one, her stomach gurgling at the smell of food. She'd won! She hadn't won as _easy_ as she'd thought: Geo, Machop and Eeveevee were exhausted after two battles each. That was _six wins,_ though. Six battles at 200 poke each. Enough for six pokeballs, or almost two weeks of food and pokemix for everyone.

She'd gone looking for zeroes, saying she'd won Roxanne's badge just last week. She promised 300 if _she_ lost. She hadn't said that Seth had trained them to be threes.

She suspected she could make more if she gave her pokemon Berries in between battles, but Berries were 50 each, so it wasn't _that_ obvious. She went to Gene for help with the maths. Mama would be proud of her.

She glowered a bit when she saw he was still in his pyjamas, his thick beard all over the place. He'd come back from making deliveries at 10 AM, though. He always slept for a few hours those days he had to get up in the middle of the night. He'd cooked, too.

"Gene, could you please help me with some maths? It about battling bets."

Gene started. He looked surprised for real. He smiled, that nervous smile that made his eyes crinkle but also held a shadow of fear. He sat next to her. Not too next to her. He was always a bit… far. _'He wants you to feel safe,'_ Mama had said. _'You scare him.'_

Which was both brilliant and also seriously strange.

Gene started looking over her maths and writing down some numbers. Then he stopped.

Valeria looked up to see a frown. "People look down on Berry Chuggers, Valeria," he said. "You're being dishonest. You're no _one_. Don't take people for fools. You're better than that."

 _Whoa_. Valeria swallowed, hard. She'd managed to like him for ten whole minutes and he had to go ruin it. _She just wanted to know if she'd make more!_

She pushed herself upright. "200 for them is nothing! They battle all the time, with other zeroes who are so bad the pokemon don't get better, and they laugh if they win _or_ lose." Only _one_ guy had gotten upset. He'd been a sore loser anyway. "You can't tell me I can't battle. I need this!"

"Battle ones, not zeroes. You won't make money off pokemon. Only good trainers do."

 _Whoa. Okay. Asshat._

Gene flinched. "People who stand out? I mean. Who have experience." He flinched again. "I don't mean you're no good, you've just got to see that-"

Valeria nodded, not even listening anymore. She tried to be nice and talk, and he shot her plans down.

"You need money?"

" _No_ ," she snapped. She forced her lips into a polite smile and sat back down. "You're right, I'll go battle ones. Food looks great, I'm starving," she added when he opened his mouth.

It was easier for both of them to just eat. It _was_ good food.

Their eyes met, it was awkward. He smiled a little. She smiled back a little too. She didn't have to like him. He just had to think she did and Mama would be happy.

 **August 17th 341 – Monday**

Valeria didn't let her face twist up as she transferred a _second_ 300\. A _kricketune_ against Machop. It was humiliating. She'd been flattened, _twice_. It didn't make any sense.

"You've got no badges for real?"

The guy whipped out his pokedex, a fat smirk on his face. "I'm an honest zero. Just like you're an honest one. I could win the fifth badge if I wanted to bother with badges. I don't go fight anyone weaker than a four usually, because I'm not a greedy cheating meowth."

Valeria's urge to pull of face won over her control by the second sentence.

The girl who'd fainted Eeveevee was still around. She started laughing. Valeria realized too late they were both part of a group of four staring down at her with big fat smug grins. Right in the middle stood a boy she'd beaten on the first day. The sore loser who'd stormed out.

Pale and furious, Valeria left.

' _If I wanted to bother with badges.'_ Valeria forced the stiffness out of her neck and shoulders. They wouldn't see she cared. Inside, jealousy burned her insides. _Dumb rich kids. Thought everybody had the same choices as them._

Valeria strode outside, her chin held high. She'd never be able to show her face in the zero section ever again. She'd made two thousand in two days, though. That's pretty much what Mama made at work. Everything was fine. Valeria just needed a new idea.

She dragged her feet to the pokecenter and then back, feeling depressingly light without Machop in her belt.

Eeveevee had been fine after half-an-hour at the pokecenter. _'She's not really fainted,'_ the Joy had said. _'I think she just wanted the battle to stop. Is it the first time? Talk to her.'_

 _Brilliant_. Her eevee was a faker.

Valeria had no clue where she was going. She'd just picked a direction that looked pretty and not crowded. She kept walking, her frown digging deep in her forehead.

She left the busiest part of Mauville for one of the wealthier districts. A cluster of tall houses with garden full of flowers, facing a big park where people played all kind of games. A sign said _'no battling'_ but nothing against well-behaved pokemon.

She freed Eeveevee. The fluffball yapped as if nothing was wrong.

"Want to explore, Princess?"

Of course she did. Valeria crouched and grabbed Eevee by her front legs to have her at eye-level. She waited until she was sure she had the pokemon's full attention.

"You gave up in the fight with that meowth. You could've stood up and tackled it at least once more. Why didn't you try?"

Eevee had a lot of good reasons, and they came tumbling out in pokespeech. Valeria was never sure if she was imagining answers or truly hearing them so she cut it down in yes/no questions.

Eevee didn't see why bother when the other pokemon was stronger. She didn't want to faint because then the day was wasted and she couldn't play or go explore. Her yapped protests had Valeria take a deep breath.

"Sometimes, Eevee, we don't do what we want. You need to fight your best. That's how you push yourself to grow stronger. Then we win more."

Eevee didn't see the point to that, though, especially if it cut into her play/explore time.

Eevee yapped and pushed herself higher on her hind legs, opening her front paws. It was her go-to sign for Ann ever since Ann had done that 'Maaaaah, Waaaah' thing with Machop.

"You want us to do something like that?"

Eeveevee looked at her like she was one dumb human. "Veh…"

Valeria sighed. "You miss Ann and Espeon."

"Eevee."

The ache in her chest was twice as horrible when an adorable eevee stared at her accusingly. Eevee _had_ to understand.

"I'm fighting to be more with them! It's to make money to go travelling with them! I need it."

Eevee huffed and nuzzled against her. Valeria understood 'I love you. You're an annoying trainer, though.' She sighed again.

"Where do you want to go, Princess?"

Eevee sped off towards the park, tearing a laugh from Valeria, who rushed after her.

"Enough, slow down," Valeria gasped after what must have been two whole miles. There was nothing like a Journey to give you muscles, and nothing like an eevee to keep you humble.

They was no one around anymore. Wooden barriers blocked their path. A big sign read _'Restricted area'_ in bold red letters _._ The park kept going, with hills and trees. Laughter and kids' voices reached Valeria's ears.

Curious, she helped Eeveevee jump over and then climbed the barrier herself.

She stumbled upon a gathering of pokemon and trainers. _At least twenty of them!_ She frowned, crouched behind a large tree, peeking while she kept Eevee close with one arm. Those weren't trainers: they were _tiny_.

It had to be junior pokemon camp for eight years olds. Nine year olds got to go to new cities, and it was like a Journey except more supervised and just three weeks. Ann had told her the teachers tricked them to see if they made good decisions, like by making them find a 'wounded' pokemon and then seeing who was dumb enough to go touch it. Or by having a candy seller, or some pretend pokemon-seller with deals too good to be true, tempt them out of their pokefood money. Junior camp was easier. Valeria kept pretty cool memories of hers. It was about learning camping basics and handling tame pokemon. You came home at night.

The Ranger-instructor had a tough-looking eevee. Eeveevee's ears perked up at the sight.

The trees were thick enough to make decent cover. Valeria set her wide-eyed fluffball on the first branch and stealthily pushed herself up.

She wanted to watch.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts.**


	34. What Makes a Bond

**CHAPTER 34: What Makes a Bond**

"Those who think they should be allowed their Licenses right now," the young Ranger was telling the kids standing on the battle-battered grass, "make a line.'

Almost everyone joined the line. Valeria remembered that she had too, to not look like a coward in front of her classmates.

"Those who after a week's practice think they could win the first badge with their pokemon, take _another_ step forward."

Eight years old was too young to realize hanging back would make you look wise, not weak.

The Ranger battled and the kids lost, almost every one of them. Most didn't know how to lose, blaming the pokemon, bad luck, unfairness. The few who won were even worse about their gloating. Valeria's eyes crinkled. She remembered now, her own fight with that grumpy poliwhirl. Poliwhirl had run away when she'd been about to lose and Valeria had had Poliwhirl drench Mitt for laughing and had laughed right back at him.

"If that eevee liked you, she'd have evolved already!"

The furious girl who'd shouted gasped as the Ranger's eevee puffed up with a warning yap.

" _Teacher_!" she squealed, now terrified. Valeria swallowed back a laugh.

The teacher crossed her arms. "You expect to go travelling with _me_ , Iza? You can't go insulting people and then run hide in my skirts."

The laughter of twenty people had the girl shrink on herself.

"You'll be a grubber, Iza!"

"Guess you might want to wait until you're eleven…"

"You and you," the teacher said, calling out those who'd teased, "remember that kids who are violent or too mean don't get Licenses. Those who laughed, beware. Iza needs to work her temper, but that doesn't make your reactions any less wrong."

Valeria watched avidly as the kids were taught a bit of battling and respect for pokemon, but mostly how to win, lose and play good by the rules with each other.

"Veh!" Eevee flailed her paws, almost falling off the branch they were both on.

"Shh," Valeria whispered.

"Veh, eevee!"

Valeria hid her face in her hands when kids and grownups all turned to stare.

"Teacher, there's a _spy_!"

 _Oh, shove it_. Gengar'd keep the kids quiet.

Valeria wanted to scream at how empty her mind was. She jumped down the tree with a tense smile that she hoped would be enough. It was a _park_. She hadn't done anything wrong.

A big fluffy heap crashed from above into her chest. _Oof_. Eeveevee hadn't gotten any more graceful with age. Valeria barely caught her.

"I don't remember ever teaching or seeing you. Where are you from?"

Valeria hesitated. "Verdanturf, Ma'am," she decided. It was the place that mattered most.

"Don't they teach kids to read signs in Verdanturf? You've had your turn. My students need to concentrate. Shoo."

Red-faced, Valeria bowed her head in apology and left. She didn't run, that would look bad. She didn't slack, though.

"Veh! Eevee!"

Catch, what did _she_ have to be mad about? "You heard the teacher," Valeria snapped. "I can't do whatever I want. Either you come quietly, or you go back in your pokeball."

Eeveevee yawned, jaws big and wide, straight at her. She slumped down, belly on the grass, ears half crouched and eyes still annoyed. _Fine_ , ball, then.

Valeria's shoulders slumped. She forced a smile and sat next to her eevee, her fingers digging into her long neck-fur. She didn't want to be mad. It wasn't fair to expect Eeveevee to be Ann and understand things like a person.

Soon, Eeveevee relaxed from tense-slump to tired-slump. Valeria didn't feel guilty about balling her.

 _What now?_ There were always some battles with big money played in places you shouldn't be battling in, except it was the best way to lose your license. Ann would kill her.

Valeria kicked at the grass and groaned when she got dirt all over her shoes. She'd _never_ make what Mr. Cinders had paid them.

Valeria shut her eyes _. Just two weeks_. A week and a half now.

' _Psychopath'_ Rosie had said. Valeria had looked it up. It meant someone who couldn't feel guilty. Who lied, loved to take risks, and only cared selfishly, if at all. Then there were other things, like being cruel, or getting mad at little things, that were part of the word. Not always, though. It was confusing. It didn't feel right for Gengar.

Valeria hadn't dared go to the library yet. She didn't want the books to tell her that she couldn't keep Gengar.

She was tired, her muscles heavy. Her feet brought her back towards Gene's house. It wasn't _home_. There hadn't been a home in a long time. She wanted to ask Mama 'Is this home, for you?' She was scared Mama would take it the wrong way, though.

She hated how nothing felt solid. How everything was out of place. She itched to run, to hop on a bus, to travel. She couldn't.

She bought a small bag of candy for Gene. Candy couldn't have the wrong tone or be rude.

He had a box of chocolates for her. A strangled laugh escaped Valeria's chest.

"We're better at doing than speaking, nah?" he said with a shrug and a half-smile.

"I don't want to talk." She could just see the ugly gray shorts of his pajamas staring down like that. What was his excuse _today_? "We should, though."

"I just want respect, Valeria," he said. "I'm not going to force you to be in a good mood."

She hated that he made her feel bad. She hated that he asked for things that good kids did so easily and yet it was so _hard_.

"Maybe you should write it all down, pass me a note. I'll pass one back," Gene said, wincing like he thought she'd think it was lame.

Valeria shrugged. It _could_ work. Dr. Fiori had made her do stranger things.

She took a slow breath. She didn't _like_ Gene. She did trust him though, a bit at least.

' _I fought zeroes,'_ she scribbled. _'I lost. They were good. You were right. I was greedy.'_

He hesitated. He made faces. Was she going to end up reading a lecture? He crossed out two papers. Valeria bit back an impatient huff.

' _You want to make your own money?'_ He'd written. _'No negotiating on that?'_

' _Yes. No.'_

' _Where were you the rest of the day?'_

It was long, and silly. Gene kept making faces. Valeria giggled, and finally, she felt up to talking without it being forced.

"That teacher is from the school I and my kids went to," Gene said as they finished lunch. "Her bark's worse than her bite. I've seen trainers who abandoned between first and third badge assist as paid extras. You enthusiastic about journeying: they'll be happy to have a trainer like you coach the kids. The pay won't be 1000 a day, more like 300, but they'll give your pokemon free food and Berries and –"

"I'll give it a try." Valeria's small smile wasn't faked. "You're not angry I lied to you about battling zeroes? You'll tell Mama?"

"You learned. Was pricier than if you'd listened." His lips twitched. "Not my fault you're stubborn. You should be good because it's good, not because deceit's cost you."

She ducked her head, letting her curls hide her from Gene. He didn't _get_ it.

"We've all got selfish moments. Especially when it feels like people who work half as hard get dealt a hand twice better than yours…"

A smile dug into Valeria's cheeks at that. Maybe she and Gene could work things out for real.

 **August 20th 341 – Thursday**

"You were out late. Nalani will be back in ten minutes," Gene pointed out. "How did it go?"

" _Fine_." Valeria inhaled sharply. "Sorry, I'm in a bad mood."

The money was good, the kids weren't too bad, they'd looked at her which such wide eyes, though, when she'd had to shout at Eeveevee to fight. Machop and Geo sometimes fought a bit _too_ hard, but at least they didn't run off to explore when they were supposed to be battling.

 _How could Valeria explain this was important? That sometimes it got boring, and your best friend wasn't around, but you still had to!_

"No worries. Don't… it'll get better."

 _Why was he smiling?_ Valeria glowered. She caught herself and dropped her gaze. _Catch._

"Valeria, I…" Gene sighed. "You want me to try and find you another job? Those kids would be a handful to any-"

"They're not!" Valeria snapped. "I'm good at the job! Why would you think -" _Catch_ _!_ " _Sorry_."

Gene just stood there, his eyes pained. "I'm not your enemy. Stop… stop looking for a fight in all my words. I'm not… good at words. You'll always find something. I'm… sorry too."

Dad had never apologized. He'd found ways, he'd explained. He'd been great with words. Valeria'd thought he was perfect. Gene was... strange. Nice. Valeria guessed he was nice.

"You're so different from Chester… That's good," she added needlessly. He actually chuckled. He looked happy for real. He cared so much what Valeria thought. It was so strange.

She lightly punched his shoulder as she made her way past him. Gene _never_ touched her, and he and Mama were so huggy she could tell it was _her_ fault. "I'm trying, okay? I'm annoyed because Eeveevee listens only when it suits her. I like camp and they like me."

"Sure," Gene said quickly, his waving arms trying to… make her feel safe? He just looked goofy. Her lips twitched under his thick beard. "What I'm trying to say is that you've been great these last few days, good mood but even bad mood."

Valeria's shoulders stiffened. Catch, her feelings kept twisting into a defiant and bittersweet mess around that man. Gene _did_ try. He made Mama happy. "Thanks, Gene. I'm going to my room."

It wasn't _just_ Eeveevee. Valeria _did_ understand why Eevee didn't want to give up her own fun to be some money making tool.

' _Telepathic links create an expectation of constant attention and effortless communication.'_

Valeria shut the bedroom's door - _her_ bedroom's door. Catch, why was it so hard?- and let herself fall stomach-first on her bed with a grunt.

She'd done it. She'd gone to the library. She'd read up on telepathic pokemon. She'd copied the book code in her reader, ducking her eyes at the librarian's mystified expression. _"That one's pretty heavy, even for grownups. You're sure you'd not rather read novels and real-life inspired stories about ghost pokemon?"_ Ha. Ha. Ha. As if she had a choice.

' _Effortless communication.'_ They'd never met Gengar...

' _As such, the person's ability to form and maintain healthy human relationships is compromised.'_

The book was dark with threat, so much darker than the Jenny in Rustboro had been. For people who cared about the pokemon sharing their headspace, telepathy was super-strong peer pressure.

The authors didn't just use the word 'telepathy'. There were 'mind-links' or 'mind-bonds' too. Those were deeper. The pokemon was always in your mind. You felt everything, unless it was a psychic-type that could shield.

Mind-links were rare. There were many stories, though. There had been this boy who'd been found by a jinx after he'd survived a shipwreck. Rangers had found him months later and he'd stayed mind-linked until well into his forties, until the jinx had died. The man had gone crazy. There were other stories, much nicer ones. Still, all spoke of an 'addictive' bond and described the aching loneliness Valeria was feeling with frightening accuracy. She'd almost cried, hiding at the back of the library, when she'd read about the scientist who'd broken a bond of ten years because the alakazam wouldn't let him have a family. _Why couldn't the man have had both?_

There was a whole section on ghosts. It spoke only of telepathy, which apparently was _'fortunately less intense than a mind-link'_ but… the whole section was one big BUT.

 _Fear-craving, emotional-stunting, risk-taking, isolation._

A thousand warnings in ten thousand words.

Valeria unhooked her belt and let Eeveevee's pokeball slide between her fingers.

"I will not become a fear-hungry psychopath," she said as Eeveevee appeared in a flash of white.

Eeveevee blinked sleepily. "Veh?"

"Apparently, ' _when the power imbalance favors the pokemon, the bonded is at severe psychological risk'_."

"Eevee?"

Aww, her fluffly princess was all confused. Valeria laughed.

"That's one of the _easy_ sentences," Valeria said with a huff. "I've got to read it, to know what the traps are and be happy with Gengar."

A happy bond _was_ possible. The examples had been with pokemon of the abra or ralts evolution lines. No reason it couldn't happen with ghosts, though.

Valeria fell back against her pillow with a low groan, staring unseeing at the ceiling. She had _so many_ questions.

Gengar should have been there when she'd been reading that book. Even now, fear bit hard into her stomach and held her throat in its claws. _All this fear, wasted._

Eeveevee jumped on the bed and climbed on top of her, her pointy nose coming to touch Valeria's own, brown eyes glittering with affection.

"That big heavy book gives the solutions, Eeveevee. I just have to be very human and teach Gengar. Ann would notice if I mess up. The other people didn't have Ann."

The 'solutions' had been so short compared to the rest, as if the words were so easy.

' _Deep human relationships' 'keeping boundaries' 'not being adverse to healthy conflict' 'strong moral values' 'empathy and compassion'._

"Veh!"

Valeria squeezed Eeveevee into a hug, exhausted laughter bubbling in her chest. "You're so right. It's all much too complicated."

 **August 23rd 341 – Sunday**

Valeria had to be _human_. The word wasn't that obvious anymore.

"What's so special about humans?" Valeria asked. "Compared to pokemon? We're smarter than almost all the species; what else, though?"

She loved that Ann didn't think the question strange for one second. Soon, she'd even gathered Max and Robin around the vidphone.

"Pokemon can be curious or imitate, but they don't create. They won't be building complex tools," Max said. "Even alakazam limit themselves to understanding rather than inventing, even if some are quite happy to help our scientists."

"Smeargle paint. Skarmory likes shiny stuff that move fast," Anabel pointed out.

Valeria nodded thoughtfully. She'd fought a smeargle on Friday. She was doing three to one fights against wild or barely-trained pokemon, and this boy had a funny family smeargle who'd never seen battle in his life. The little kids paid her 50 when they lost, to teach them about money. Even when they groaned and rolled themselves dramatically on the ground, it was heaps of fun for everyone. They'd had a 15-vs-5 battle yesterday with the two best kids fighting on her side with the pokemon they'd been lent, and it had been _chaos_ , with pokemon knocking allies out and some kids rushing in the melee, as if _that_ would help. Eeveevee had won by pretending to faint and pouncing back in the fray at the last minute. She'd kept making eyes at Valeria after that. Valeria took it to mean _'see, my way works.'_

"Pokemon aren't immune to beauty, but they have very specific interests," Max said. "Humans are the only ones to invent and pass on stories and songs. We have the most complex social structures. The few pokemon species that care about their ancestors stick to facts. It's much more emotional for us."

Okay, Valeria would ask Mama for more stories about Grandpa and Grandma.

"Fashion," Robin added, a twitch in her lips. "Machop don't have to put up with a husband who won't cut his hair even if it clogs up the pipes."

"Machop would look dashing with long hair," Max, flipping said-hair dramatically. "But Bibi has a point."

Valeria nodded, writing it all down to sort it out later. That's what Ann did at school, and Ann had much better marks.

"V, I'm leaving," Mama later called. "Gene needs a bit of help in the kitchen."

Valeria jumped upright, making a dash for the kitchen. She sniffed the air. When Gene cooked, he made strange spicy sauces for everything.

"Wait, I have a question first!"

"I'd say… choice," Mama answered, slipping her coat on. "Hobbies, jobs, even who we are… Pokemon don't have as many choices to make."

"We dream big. We ask all sorts of fancy questions."

Valeria glared. _This is serious, Gene._

"We don't just have instinct, we have _values_. Most of us anyway…"

Gene put his hand on Mama's hip and Mama's smile was back. Valeria's eyes softened.

"Have fun," Gene wished, kissing Mama's cheek.

"You like late shifts now?" Mama looked almost in a rush to go.

Mama laughed. "Oh no, I'm going to have dinner and drinks with people from work."

Valeria must've made a face because now both Mama and Gene were grinning broadly.

"I know it's mind-blowing, but I allow your mom friends." Gene frowned. "They're all women, no?"

"Yup, don't let the names fool you, Cole and Risco are definitely women." Mama's eyes glittered, betraying the obvious lie. "Eccentric parents, what can you do about it?" She spun on her heels, laughter bubbling out of her mouth. "See you!"

Gene shook his head with a faint smile after she had closed the door. "I hate to say it, but I'll miss it when she stops finding me wonderful just because I'm no huge asshole." He winced. "Don't repeat that last word."

Valeria stepped forward and gave Gene a hug. It was brief and a bit stiff. It was good enough to get her point across.

She turned to the cooking pot sitting on the hot plate. "What do you need help with?" she asked before he could talk feelings.

She liked that he didn't force it. He was good at silences.

Later, she cheerfully dug her fork in the sauce covered meat and rice.

"Two spices, definitely. Cinnamon?" Food-guessing made good meal-conversation. Food was _safe_.

Gene smirked. "Not cinnamon. Close."

Valeria's hope she could escape unscathed before meal's end was snuffed when she made the mistake of leaning back with a full stomach and a satisfied smile.

Gene always pounced when she looked relaxed.

"Valeria," he began. She _didn't_ roll her eyes. She couldn't help glowering a bit, though. "I…" His smile was nervous. "I knew people with long-term ghost pokemon. They come in two flavours: bullies, and people who are scared all the time. You… you don't look scared. Between us, your mother thinks you're too strong for your age."

 _He thought she was a bully?_ Valeria took a slow breath. Gene was right, she _did_ look for fights in his words.

She stared right at him. "Nothing wrong with fear. Fear's a signal from the brain. It tells you to watch out, to think hard. Then, you decide if the fear's dumb or not. The trick is not let the fear paralyze you. If you silence the fear, though, you go blind. You let people fool you." It wasn't until she'd grown so confused and scared she couldn't pretend anymore that she'd realized she and Mama had to leave Dad. If she'd listened to the fear instead of shutting it down, maybe- "Fear's not _weak_ ," she finished, her jaw set.

Gene was staring at her wide-eyed. "Doctor Fiori," he finally muttered.

Valeria nodded sharply. Most of everything she knew about feelings was.

She abruptly stood up and rushed to her bag. She finally knew what to write in the square baby congratulations card she'd bought in Lavaridge.

 _Dear Dr. Fiori._

 _You gave me words to explain feelings. I met a ghost-pokemon. He likes me: I realize now it's also because I'm scared. I'm happy too. It's not so confusing anymore. I made a best friend, Anabel. She's brilliant. We journey together._

 _Your son's never going to be confused. He's lucky for real._

 _Hugs._

 _Valeria Reed_

 _PS: Chester's in jail (he became a poacher). Mama and I talked about it. She has a new doctor. Her new boyfriend's nice._

"Thanks," Gene chuckled. She'd not noticed him hovering.

"Peeking's rude. Don't make me write 'nice but rude'." His smile faltered. Valeria bit back a sigh. She'd been _teasing_. "Any spelling mistakes? I don't want to look dumb."

"Just the missing 'a' in 'realize'."

 _Catch_. Valeria took a long look at her mom's boyfriend as she set the pen down. "Were _you_ one of the scaredy kids with a ghost?"

He thought he'd been subtle, it showed on his face. His mouth thinned into something grave. Valeria winced, she'd not meant to make it a mean question.

"Fear's not weak," she repeated, a stubborn clench to her jaw.

"I didn't believe that." The edge to Gene's voice made Valeria wonder if he believed that _now_. "I became the bully. Lost my license a couple of days after I became a five. I wish Kid-me had had his own Doctor Fiori."

"It was the ghost's fault? That you lost your license."

"It… _No_. Misdreavus was always game for trouble, but it wouldn't be fair to say she manipulated me or anything. She wasn't all that clever." His odd smile twisted further. "Missy loved me, you see? Admired me for the tricks I planned. People forget right and wrong when they want something too badly."

Valeria heard the warning loud and clear. Except it didn't feel this was all about _her_. She could tell it was a try at bonding.

"If I've got questions about ghosts, I'll ask," she said when it was obvious she had to speak. "Thanks," she added, because that couldn't go wrong.

Her step was lighter as she went to the, _her_ , room. The place still didn't feel like home. It felt like maybe it could, though, one day.

Later, sprawled on her bed, Valeria scanned her two pages of notes about _humans_ , searching for a hidden depth, or at least a hint of where to start. Sure, she could invent a story or get a new hobby every six months. None of those options felt _solid_ , though.

Valeria perked up. Mama read a ton of self-help and parenting books these days. There had to be valuable things in there. She'd look into those later.

Her eyes fell to another bullet point on the list. _Clothes and style._

She chuckled as she recalled Seth in his Dragonite-riding suit.

Soon she was swiping on her vidphone, pictures filling the screen. Rosie, Nova, Darren, Seth… Nova had a thousand fun and flashy pokemon T-shirts. She was so tall and skinny, and obviously tried to look shorter in every picture. Her hair was gorgeous and unique, though. Seth wore his badges-scarf even when the sun hit hard enough to melt stone. Darren had shaved his wispy mustache when Rosie made fun and called him _probopass_ , but he had a tattoo that said where he came from. Somehow, he looked serious and grownup _whatever_ he wore. Rosie… Rosie had perfect hair, and perfect clothes, she was so nice and brilliant at everything, and…

Valeria didn't even bother glancing at the mirror. There was nothing _stylish_ to be found there.

She'd like dressing up pretty, _before_. Dad had bought her pretty things and she'd loved it when he'd called her pretty. She'd been miserable when he'd hadn't, because it meant he was mad at her. Valeria scribbled clouds next to her notes. She'd asked _human_. She'd not thought to ask _good human._

She'd promised. Gengar trusted her.

She stood up, feeling caged. She opened the window and sat on the windowsill, her eyes gazing unseeing at the small fenced garden. Night was falling, in that slow, summer way. The air was thick and hot, bloated with rain that wouldn't fall. It stuck to her lungs when she breathed.

Her thigh brushed against her reader, left on the windowsill to charge. Valeria picked it up with a frown, shaking her head slightly as the list of books appeared. Her deceptively light reader was a gate to a hundred worlds, each full of heroes and heroines she'd yearned to be like, if only for a time. They'd made her laugh, cry and rage, and learn new words and wise lessons. They were all so different, though… And they didn't care what they looked like. They had better things to do.

Valeria ducked her chin against her chest and muffled a scream of was like her confidence was breaking into pieces the longer she thought about it.

She was terrified. She didn't hate it: fear kept her brain working. It didn't let her lose sight of the stakes. Sometimes, it even gave her good ideas.

What she hated was the powerlessness.

* * *

 _Alright, this was a whole lot of introspection and family dynamics. I'd love to know if it's something you're enjoying._

 _Next chapter "Everyone wins" will bring action back to the front scene._


	35. Everyone Wins

**CHAPTER 35: Everyone Wins**

* * *

 **August 27th 341 – Thursday**

"Wait, wait, wait, WAIT!" Zapdos screamed.

Valeria frowned, struggling to see behind the curtain of smoke created by the two torchic's ember attacks.

Her eyes widened. It wasn't the pokemon-fire or smoke messing with her eyes. Geodude _was_ chunkier, and growing fatter by the second. Her arms jerked, losing their wiry smoothness. Two more arms, fat and chunky, pushed themselves out of her body. Geo had had five fingers to each hand, long almost-pretty stone fingers. Now they were three, shorter, clumsy and more rock-like, on each of her four chunky hands. Beneath her hovering, and now massive body, hung two brand new stone legs.

 _Graveler_. Valeria cracked a grin. _Blah, she was so ugly._ Geo had been somewhat polished, with big expressive eyes, and now _…_ None of that lessened the burst of pride and affection Valeria felt for her now two-hundred-pound-heavy chunk of rock.

"She evolved!" Zapdos shouted.

Valeria laughed. Zapdos sounded more excited than _she_ was.

"Your geodude _evolved_!" he repeated, mouth wide open.

Charizard took a dramatic step towards her. "Surely, you'll return our money after such a turnaround?" His voice had a life-or-death gravity to it. It had made the whole battle feel like the city's ownership was at stake.

"Keep on dreaming." Valeria had decided to be a good person, not a pushover.

She had no idea what the boys' true names were. She'd found them leaving the Professor's lab, debating what to name their two torchic. They were so wildly enthusiastic to start their journey that they'd dressed up –hood and everything- as their favorite pokemon: a charizard and the legendary Zapdos.

Valeria had been pulled back four months in the past when the bigger boy, the Zapdos one, had fearfully asked 'What if they don't get along?'. She and Ann had been so _confused_ by Torchic and Treeko's bickering. Later, time at Mr. Cinders' farm had made them realize it had just been calls for bonding and attention. At the time though, it had just scared them into thinking they were doing the training thing all wrong.

So she'd swallowed down her instinctive shyness and walked right up to the guys.

' _For 200 each, I'm fighting your two torchic two-vs-one with my geodude,'_ she'd said. _'They'll win, I know that. They'll have to work together, though. It'll make their first big memory of the four of you a great one.'_

The guys had stared, stared at each other, and promptly nodded. The paved back-alley behind the building was wide enough to made a decent arena. The Professor had convinced the owners of the two nearby restaurants, who used the space for their trash containers, to let Valeria (Machop) move those for a few hours a day.

"Did you know this would happen?" Zapdos said, fake yellow lightning-feathers sticking out from his sleeves and back. He had the strangest sun-glasses. Like goggles, except strange. "Can I touch her?"

Valeria couldn't wipe off her own dumb grin. Zapdos was shaking in awe. He was awed by _her_. It felt brilliant. She had to hang out more around new trainers.

"Challenging pokemon is what makes them get better. If you'd been no challenge, Geo would still be a geodude."

Charizard beamed and picked up his torchic. Valeria laughed when he broke into song and began a victory dance that looked like what people did in movie ballrooms.

Zapdos kept edging closer to Geo. He so _big_ for eleven years old. Even if it was fat more than muscle that made him bigger than Darren, and almost as tall, she'd still trust him to hold his own against anyone. Anyone who wasn't literally a _huge living rock_.

Graveler looked even meaner now.

"Zapdos, stay back and let her test out her new body. No breaking anything, Geo. We'll go out to mess around with rocks later, so you can gloat in front of Machop."

Geo was still a bully, except she understood delayed gratification now.

Valeria had had one of her best ideas ever when reading one of Mama's books: there had been this chapter, about playing games with little children and when to let them win. Valeria had realized she could make trainers pay to _win_. Junior Camp was over, so she'd gone to the Professor's assistants on Tuesday, to tell them her plan. She'd told Ann too, so there was no backing out of it. Loads of zeroes and ones gave up their Journeys, because they missed home, or hated camping, or just weren't any good with pokemon. Valeria'd give them one last battle, or at least a big fun battle like they'd never had before. The Professor sent her two or three kids, who usually didn't even know each other, and they fought three-to-one against one of her pokemon. They paid 200 each, and left laughing with a new friend or two.

Eeveevee liked watching the fights. She had even accepted to fight. Only in the evenings, though. At first, Joy and the chansey-nurses had scowled at seeing Valeria come twice a day with her fainted pokemon. They'd stopped when Valeria had told what she was doing. Besides, it wouldn't be _forever_.

This morning, Valeria had battled with Machop. It had been three boys, all twelve year olds, all saying their parents had made them because it was their last chance to journey. They were already friends: they'd met at the Ranger Station after being taken there, all for having gotten into different kinds of trouble. The one who'd journeyed the longest had done _eight_ days. They'd been so bad that Machop had almost _won_. It had been fun for everyone, though, except for the three starters who had to realize their trainers didn't care.

After that Valeria had gathered up the three poor starters, promising them they'd get much better trainers this time, and gone back with them to see the Professor. That's when she'd overheard the guys. Charizard was lucky not to have been born a few days later. With the winter cutoff being November 1st, nobody could get licenses after August 31st.

"Ha." Charizard jabbed a finger at her like he'd figured her all out. "I suspected that you were desperate for money for setting yourself up to lose. Instead _we_ 're paying _you_ to power-train your pokemon. What a brazen trick!"

The more Charizard spoke, the more Valeria wondered where he'd sprung out of. _A 'brazen trick'? Was that from a book?_

"No, no. I'm glad you did," Zapdos exclaimed. Charizard dropped his finger and glanced nervously at his friend. "'Trick' is mean," Zapdos added, his cheeks coloring.

"A _good_ trick," Charizard quickly amended. "That goes without saying."

Was she _scaring_ them? It was so hard not to laugh.

Valeria turned to the bigger boy, who'd awkwardly shuffled away from Geo. "Why do you wear sunglasses when it's so cloudy?" The _real_ Zapdos didn't wear any.

Charizard went grave. "Eyes are the window to the soul," he announced, arms crossed in defiance. "He guards his weaknesses from strangers' gazes."

 _Seriously?_ She giggled. _Whatever._

 _Geo had evolved!_

These last days, Geo had raised her fists at Valeria for the first time since her first week of capture, daring her to send her _again_ in an unwinnable fight. Shaking her new limbs and lumbering around like an avalanche in the making, Geo wasn't complaining _now_.

Machop was the only one who had never looked too unhappy, even if Valeria didn't let him shout out _MAAAAHH_ like Ann did. It was just too embarrassing.

Machop had to be close to evolution would be so proud if Machop evolved.

"Veh?"

Valeria crouched with a huff. Eeveevee was looking at her like when Eeveea had become Espeon. Valeria didn't have to be fluent in pokespeech to get her question. Eevee's brown eyes screamed _'Is that what you want from me?'_ her whole fluffy body tense with lingering resentment.

"Eevee, I told you I don't care if you evolve at all. But Geo cares about being big, tough and mean, so I have to cheer at her becoming an even bigger mean rock."

"Eevee, vee, vee."

"I'm so proud of you, Eevee." She couldn't go wrong saying that. "I needed your help, and you did it all, even if you didn't like it. I won't forget that."

Eeveevee stopped glaring and let Valeria pick her up. _What a princess._

Valeria turned to her opponents. "Guys, I hope you'll have at least six badges next time we run into each other." _And her too._

"We sure will!" Zapdos said. "Thank you so much."

A smile dug into Valeria's cheeks. The way he said thanks so earnestly reminded her of Ann.

"Bye! Don't spend our money on trivial stuff."

 _That_ earned Charizard a glare. It was hard, though, to get annoyed at a grinning guy in a red dragon costume.

Now she had to put back the small empty street how she'd found it. Catch, restaurants needed _a lot_ of heavy bins.

"Geo, help me out with the big bins. I need them against this wall. I'll give you a treat. Two because you're big now. Fine, _three_."

Eeveevee crawled onto her shoulder, keeping her balance by magic, freeing one of Valeria's arms. Brown eyes met silver and Valeria knew Eevee would jump right back on if Valeria even tried to get her to walk.

So Valeria struggled to set the bulky bins right with one arm. Eevee was lucky she was so cute.

They'd just finished when ringing tones had Valeria shrug Eevee off to access her phone.

"Don't push it," she warned when Eevee protested.

 _Oh catch!_

Graveler was making faces at a shop-window. Behind the reflexion, the owner, fists raised, furiously rushed for the door.

Valeria wrestled one-handed her pokeball out of her belt. "Geo, come back here now!"

The stream of red light saved the window from a dramatic end.

Her eyebrows flew up when Seth appeared on the vidphone screen. His silver hair was shorter, still split in the middle and falling down, better, though. His scarf was gone, instead he was wearing a blue _bow-tie_ and a white – Valeria's eyes crinkled.

"Not a word," Seth warned. "My eldest cousin's getting married on Saturday. I have to stand here waiting for Aunt Carol to get pins and adjust this thing. I look like a prinplup." He shrugged off his grumpy face. "That's not what I'm calling you about."

"Geo just evolved," Valeria said, too proud to keep it in. "Don't tell Ann, though. It'll be a surprise."

"Ace! I was scared you'd lose the month."

"I have to get Machop to the , this way," she called.

She fell silent, her eyes on the road rather than on Seth. They had texted a bit but not _talk_ -talked since she and Ann left Rustboro. Ann had told Seth about Dad and that was okay. Valeria had nothing she wanted to say, though.

Seth cleared his throat. "I talked to Roxanne about Gengar." _What? Why?_ "The Jennys don't have time to check if any of the too-powerful pokemon newbie trainers bring in are actually safe, but we've got time at the school." _He was volunteering to take Gengar in?_ Valeria's shoulders slumped. Seth's helpful expression just made it worse. "I know he doesn't like to battle," Seth added quickly. "But nobody cares, we'll just-"

"He's helping the Jennys find criminals."

Seth blinked. "Criminals?"

"His former master was a poacher." This would end up as the worst kept secret in Hoenn. "Gengar didn't like him anymore so he had me break his masterball and came with me."

"Masterball?" Seth whistled. "So you took the guy's gengar and he just… left?"

"Gengar knocked him out."

Seth blanched. Maybe Valeria shouldn't have exaggerated.

" _Shit_. Nova told me Eeveea was terrified when you went to her and Rosie at the campsite. You had that _massive_ bruise…" Seth's jaw was slightly open. "V, I don't think _Dragonite_ can faint a human. He could… squash one, I guess, but…"

"Gengar's Shadow Ball pushed him over. The guy hit his head. We left him with a man who knew what to do."

"Well, shit. So, what happens after Gengar finishes helping the Jennys?"

"I go see them to Gengar back. I'll have to take a test."

"For what?" Seth's eyes widened. "Wait, you said _tell them_ \- he _speaks_? _Mind-speaks_?"

 _Catch_. This was why Valeria liked secrets. You couldn't just keep _part_ of a secret. It was too easy to mess up.

"Rosie knows."

" _Shit_ , V!"

Seth flushed when a clearly outraged woman's voice shouted behind him.

"Sorry, Mom!" he shouted back before closing a door. A deep frown scrunched his face up. "Okay, if you don't pass that test, the Jennys have to find him a home, store him, or free him somewhere appropriate. They give you choices, but you get to pick, because he's _yours_ until they find something. I can help. I'm sure Roxanne would agree to keep him for you a while. How many chances to you get to have a talking ghost?

"I'm sure you know _everything_ Roxanne loves." Valeria's heart was racing, and it was easier to tease than to face his words. ' _If you don't pass_.'

Dark splotches gathered on Seth's cheeks. "Shut up."

Valeria's chest was tight. She'd not asked him for anything. She'd not even been that nice to him. Ann had, but not _her_. "Thanks, Seth," she whispered. "Why did you call me for?"

"No problem." He swallowed, suddenly looking very nervous. "Okay, here's the thing: one of my cousins, she's eleven, she calls me pikachu-cheeks and she says I'm full of myself and obsessed with pokemon." Valeria quickly turned the vidphone away to hide her face from him. She _wouldn't_ laugh. _Bad, V, bad!_ "I've tried to beg my way out of the wedding but Mom won't let me. I just… Lys will make sure I have a horrible time and… I need help."

Valeria took a deep breath. _Okay, she could do this._ She raised the vidphone once more. "Help, how? I can't send Gengar to threaten her…"

Seth snorted. "No. But you… you thought that too about me, before. That I was… kind of a know-it-all loser." Valeria flinched. It just sounded _worse_ said like that. "I changed your mind. How did I do it? How do I change hers? I offered to help her train. It didn't go over well."

Seth was hanging to her lips, his eyes bright and insecure, and Valeria remembered _exactly_ why she'd changed her mind, because he'd looked at her the same way then. "You stopped being perfect. You showed me you cared about what I thought. You admitted that you weren't explaining like you wanted during training. That you wanted to be nicer about it. That you just didn't know how."

"You want me to tell her I _care_ about what she thinks?" Seth looked horrified. "That'll make it worse." His face darkened. "I just want her to leave me alone. She gets me in trouble if I ignore her. She says bad things about me and then people take her side…"

Valeria frowned. She'd never _hate_ hated Seth. This was a bully.

"Can't you bring a friend? Nova?"

Seth shook his head. "Rhys will be there. We used to be best mates, but… He went home after the third badge. He's at regular secondary. We almost never hang out anymore..." Seth pulled a face. "That dumbass thinks Lys is _very pretty_."

Valeria pursed her lips thoughtfully. When she'd been the new girl in Lavaridge, she'd not even tried to speak to the other kids. She'd been a mess, Mama even worse. Besides, what if she'd said the wrong thing to the wrong person andDad had found them? Valeria had hidden in the library because books were safe and took her far away.

Dr. Fiori had said friends didn't have to be classmates, so after a few months, Valeria had given drawings to the librarian and the lunch ladies. She'd never had any trouble at all after Miss Doris had found her eating alone and said that she'd poison anyone who was mean to her. The canteen walls echoed and Miss Doris's voice was _loud_.

"You should keep Dragonite around," Valeria decided.

"Not at the wedding I can't. I can avoid Lys at home. I already do."

"They can't make you ball him if you leave his pokeball at home. He can meet you at the wedding place after you've gone." Seth opened his mouth to protest. "Don't ask permission. Tie a fancy tie around his neck… or something. Hide in his arms whenever Lys bothers you. As long as he's not scary, people are going to love it. I mean, how rare are they?"

Seth had scrunched his face up at _'hide in his arms'_. "That's a baby thing."

"A baby who trained a dragonite? That's so dumb. If they call you a baby, say 'yep, baby with a dragonite', and look real proud."

Seth looked a little stunned. He then laughed. "I can't wait to –" His smile wavered. "Mom will make me send him back home."

"Will she hit you?"

Seth stared like she was crazy. "No, but –"

"Then just say no. Tell Dragonite not to. What can they do? You'll be in the middle of guests. They're not going to start shouting. At worst, fly away on Dragonite and go somewhere fun."

Seth looked horrified. "I'll be so grounded."

"What's worse? Putting up with _her_ , or being grounded?"

"You're insane." Seth grinned. "Nova would love it. I'm so doing this."

Valeria was skipping when she reached the pokecenter, a small smile still on her lips.

Oo*oOo*oO

Mauville City Gym was still too tough for her. Valeria could enjoy the huge grounds around it like all the other trainers, though. Years and years of battles had made it full of holes and mounds, with random rocks and only a few brave remaining trees. A colorful crowd had gathered around the nearby artificial lagoon: water stolen from the sea with a two-mile long canal. Pulsing music filled the whole grounds, in rhythm with a firework of moves as coordinators and their pokemon showed off their best routines.

Valeria stood a few hundred yards away. The terrain was sad patches of grass and slopes still muddy from the last rains. It was perfect.

Geo retracted her legs inside her body, pushing herself down the slope towards Machop. The ground shook as the pokemon picked up speed, becoming a rolling blur. Unimpressed, Machop lifted a boulder of his own over his head, making up for size with the strength of his bellows.

Eeveevee ran around them lifting up flecks of mud that gathered in clumps on her white fur. She didn't care, yapping encouragements and raising threatening puffs of grime when the other pokemon ignored her for too long.

This was definitely about Machop, though. Machop, who'd obeyed every command, fought his best in every battle, and was now dwarfed by the _enemy_.

The two had once been evenly matched. Now, the toddler-tall fighting-type was shorter than Geo and a good five times lighter. Poke-energy had its own physics, though. Machop threw a boulder as massive as Geo straight at her, his muscled arms raised in challenge.

Geo dodged and planted her new graveler-legs in the ground. Her ugly smile was the worst of insults. She was refusing to fight, as if Machop was beneath her now.

Valeria was fascinated. Successful bullying took _some_ brains. Evolution unlocked potential, still, Geo would have to grow into her new strength. Machop could still beat her in a fight. With Geo's attitude, though, he was losing confidence.

Eeveevee jumped on Geo before Machop lost the last of his self-control. The eevee climbed Geo as if she was just another boulder, reaching the top, paws just above Geo's eyes, with a happy yap, oblivious to the four thick arms that could squash her any second.

Valeria's wary smile bloomed into laughter when Geo grabbed Eeveevee and threw her to Machop, hard but not hurt-hard. Machop grabbed her mid-flight, and 'Maahed' in Eeveevee's face. Eeveevee yapped right back and jumped out of his arms. She rushed back to Geo for round two.

Machop had a special look for Eeveevee. It was confused and hopeful: often Eeveevee accepted to fight if he played with her first.

It was just too funny.

 **August 31st 341 – Monday**

Seth was grounded. Sort of. _'Dad sneaked me my vidphone. He knows Mom's too soft on Lys.'_

He'd also had the best time. Dragonite was in half the wedding pictures. The bride's and groom's grin as Dragonite flew the bride over a lake in her stunning red-and-white dress was all the vindication he needed. That and the blurred picture of his livid cousin Lys sticking her middle-fingers up _. 'Imagine her face when I snatched the picture. Grandma made Uncle ground her. Aunt Mae hates me even more now, but Aunt Carol gave me extra candy.'_

Valeria's eyebrows shot up when Seth sent her a _twenty minutes_ video. Fireworks. Twenty whole minutes of brilliant zooming fireworks. The few hundred glass bubbles filled with flowers floating on the lake had been a solid clue. The fireworks did it, though: Seth was _definitely_ a rich kid.

Glancing at the mirror came as a bit of a jolt after half an hour of staring at pretty people in their best clothes.

No, there was no way that fizzy tangela tumbling around her face and down her back looked good. Loads of people were a bit scruffy while journeying, this wasn't scruffy, though. This was _I-got-friendly-with-a-lightsocket._

Valeria's lips twisted in disgust.

' _Your hair's the mark of a true traveller.'_ With everything going on when Dad had taken her to the mines, Valeria had forgotten the jab at her appearance. She didn't let the small growl in her throat escape. Last time he'd seen her, she'd had neat straightened hair, so of course -

She rushed to the living room. Mama was dusting. There was nothing to dust, of course. It'd be mean to point out Mama's coping habits, though. That's what doctors were for.

"Mama, I need a flat iron."

"I think you look adorable."

"You're my mom." It's like the woman had blinders, honestly. "I swear, I'm going to chop it all off and get a wig. I can buy an iron. I'm big enough to use it by myself too."

Mama put the duster down. She gestured at the couch. Valeria frowned. This wasn't something that warranted a big discussion, was it?

"I didn't forbid it at home to annoy Chester, Vali."

Those months Valeria had lived one week with Mom and one with Dad, Mama had banned the flat-iron. 'There's nothing wrong with your natural look,' she'd said. 'She's just jealous of how pretty you are when it's styled,' Dad had replied days later while straightening her wild curls into what he would call Valeria's 'princess hair'.

Mama looked entirely too dead serious. "Your curls aren't something that have to be erased for you to look good."

"They're not just _curls_ , though. Other people have curls and they're not all over the place or just this… this _much_."

Mama looked like she was trying not to laugh. She also looked very serious. "Not in Hoenn no. In Alola, they're much more common. I got my mother's hair, but your grandpa and many in your grandma's family have hair like yours. There are shampoos and creams. I'm going to take you to a professional." A shadow crossed her face. "I'm sorry I didn't do it earlier."

 _Whoa. Okay_. Valeria not meant to bankrupt Mama with her dumb hair. "Nova knows all these things, I'll call her."

She took a picture of her head and sent it to Nova. _'Do something, please.'_

Nova called back in less than ten seconds, wearing a smug grin. "I thought you'd _never_ ask. Let's do this well. I'm going to need you to pull your hair back and take close up pictures of your face and head. I have a software that takes your head and puts hairdos on them."

 _Whoa._ "I can try out colors too? Like highlights?"

"V, I can find you products that'll give you beautiful bold colors without needing bleach, and that'll wash out in half-a-year -or straight-away with the right remover- but your problem isn't _color_. Ann couldn't bother brushing her hair, but _you_ ," Nova jabbed a finger at her. It was like being accused for a crime. " _You_ brush yours too much and wash them all wrong. You're destroying your curls and you've made a dry fuzzy mess of it all." Valeria had _known_. It hurt a bit to hear it, though. "Your mom's got straight hair, I bet."

"Her mom's listening," Mama called. "We're looking for hair products."

Nova blushed, but she looked a bit vindicated when Mama and her straight hair appeared on the side of vidphone screen.

"Hello, Mrs. Reed." Nova suddenly grinned. "Go it. What do you think?"

 _Catch_. Valeria saw herself for the first –and hopefully last time _ever_ \- with her head half-shaved and a single orange pigtail that curled like a corkscrew down to her chest.

She rubbed her eyes, willing the image to go away while Nova howled with laughter.

"Enough, time to be serious," Nova announced. "When's the last time you got a cut or trim?"

Valeria dropped her gaze, guiltily fiddling with her curls. Her free hand tightened around Mama's hand. "Two years?" They'd had bigger things to deal with than dumb _hair_.

Nova's squawk was so outraged that Valeria had to giggle.

"So I need to make them short, like Ann." Ann looked good. Valeria could get used to short if it meant _nice_.

Nova glared. " _No_. What you need is to _take care of them_. Big hair is high maintainance. Don't you dare chop that off 'cause you're too lazy."

 _Okay_. Valeria let out the breath she'd been holding. Truth was, she liked it long.

Her eyes almost popped out of her head when Mama said she liked the picture with the purple highlights.

"It's fine. I liked them as a game, I don't need-"

"Vali, for _my_ sanity, please let me take care of _you_ just this once."

"Mama, it's just-"

"Stop talking back to your mom," Nova cut in. " _Honestly_."

Mama looked fierce, her forehead creased, her eyes narrowed, her jaw set.

Valeria swallowed back her words, for all that they were sensible and heartfelt. A smile she didn't quite dare believe in dug into her cheeks. She was going to get _color_. Those brilliant purple highlights. Those unnecessary, fancy, _pretty-_

"Thanks, Mama," she breathed.

* * *

 **Hello everybody! So t** **his concludes a more Valeria-specific arc. Next chapter 'Merging Interrupted' will bring Ann back and kickoff the last part of the fic, where Ann's empathy finally becomes a Big Thing.**

 **Just three chapters to go! I'd really appreciate any kind of feedback.**


	36. Merging Interrupted

**CHAPTER 36: Merging Interrupted**

* * *

 **August 31st 341 – Monday**

Awesome memories dancing behind her eyes, Anabel put her swimsuits away. They'd visited caves full of stalagmites and stalactites, and sand beaches so tiny their three towels had barely fit. The sea had etched the wildest shapes in cliffs, and they'd tried out a crazy amount of new food. Mom and Dad had even written down some recipes to try out at home. There had been a museum with the tallest wooden ships from long before the War, and Anabel had found the best toy for skarmory: a rattata carved from sea-stone and covered in tiny, shiny shells, too solid for him to break. It had a small mechanism to make it zoom around, and it was _perfect_.

They'd been allowed to visit some ruins alone because they had Espeon with them, and they'd even taken a _submarine_ to visit Devon Corp.'s new archaeological digging site. It was like an underwater village, deep in sand and rock between the islands, spooky quiet except _not_ , with all the people in under-water suits and their machines carefully searching for buried treasures.

They'd made a promise to say the truth to now, so Dad had told them about his family. Dad's parents had told him not to bother coming back if he didn't have a career in pokemon like everyone else. He had three brothers and he'd not talked to them in almost twelve years. It was hard to accept Anabel had such mean people in her own family, but Mom called those talks 'grown-up talks', and Anabel was proud Dad trusted her now.

One conversation in particular had stuck with her.

' _Anabel, you could have been the one stealing pokemon and we'd still have brought you here. This isn't just about you. Your mom and I are exhausted._ We _need this vacation, and_ we _want you with us. You've now learned that life can deal much harsher punishments than we'd ever do.'_

She had. It was a terrifying, but she now knew that her parents were her allies no matter what.

And she'd just loved having them well-rested and happy to do stuff with her and joke around.

' _We send kids on Journeys at ten because then you'll have grown world-wise enough to spare your poor parents drama-powered teenage antics,"_ Mom had said. _"We want you reasonably self-confident and able to put things in perspective before puberty hits.'_

' _That's bunk, Bibi. I would've been better without it and you yourself were a great teenager."_

' _I'm exceptional. You married me, didn't you?'_

As she shoved the last of her clothes in her wardrobe, Anabel grinned. Mom and Dad had felt more _there_ than ever before. Good emotions had hung to the very air, a song behind every smile. She had to send V the last pictures. She wanted V to come _today_ , so they could snuggle under the covers and talk all night long.

And Espeon really missed Eeveevee.

Anabel opened the window, letting the fresh air in. Skarmory wasn't home yet. She really hoped he'd had fun and would turn up soon.

Anabel picked up her vidphone and laughed again when she unlocked the screen over the picture of Seth's Dragonite dancing in a circle with the groom and his friends. She was glad he'd asked V for advice. She'd never have dared to tell him to bring Dragonite and not care what his parents said.

V wasn't answering the call. Anabel frowned. _Come on, V, answer._

' _Call me back?'_ she texted, put out.

After two hours and fifteen more unanswered calls, Anabel was starting to panic. She called the house. _Nobody._ Nalani's vidphone didn't even ring, going straight to voicemail.

"V told you she'd gone fishing, Ann, _relax_. Go make a list of what you're going to need for your Journey and the routes you want to travel. It'll get cold, don't forget that."

Right, like she cared about all that when V could have been kidnapped, again, and her family murdered.

It was 6PM when V finally called. "Ann, I'm so so sorry! My vidphone was at the bottom of my pack. Mama was at work and her battery was dead."

"It's alright." _Ghosts, Anabel felt silly_. "I just get worried." _Since crazy stuff keeps happening…_ "It's… how was fishing? Gene didn't get on your nerves?"

V had that awkward-but-proud smile whenever she talked about Gene these days. "It could've been _way_ more awkward. Fishing is tricky actually. I caught three small branches. Two of them were in the water pretending to be fish, though. Gene says anybody would've been fooled."

Anabel laughed. "You're not supposed to throw the line so hard it gets wrapped in the trees around you!" She settled comfortably on her desk, her legs excitedly kicking the air.

"Easy for you to say. Those branches looked _a lot_ like fish." V smiled. It was crazy how much light and color her new hair brought to her face.

Anabel perked up further at V's 'something _big_ happened' _face_. "Come on, tell me!"

"I wanted to make it a surprise…" Anabel glowered. V's eyes crinkled. "Yeah, I guess I need to make it up to you for forgetting to check my phone."

"You totally do." _A surprise?_ V looked _so_ excited.

V took a deep breath. Anabel stopped breathing alongside her.

"Come ON, V!"

"Machop evolved!"

 _Machop-_ " _What?_ "

"Machop evolved just yesterday! He got revenge for all the attitude Geo's been giving him since _she_ evolved. She figured out Bulldoze too, she looks like a one-rock rockslide when she does. It's really fierce."

"When did Geo evolve?" Anabel squeaked. Geodude _and_ Machop?

"Thursday. It's like Seth said. Setting them up to lose, not by too much, though, in battles they fight hard to win, works well for real. I'm sending you a picture right now."

Anabel stared. Machop – _Machoke_ \- stood next to V, just as tall as her, with muscles bigger than any man's. He was bumping fists with V, a merry smirk on his face. _His new face_. Instead of a serious toddler-high humanoid, a _really_ tough teenager was staring back at Anabel. Geo was right next to him and V, holding Eeveevee up in the air with two of her four chunky arms.

 _Wow_.

"I've been taping all of Machop's battles since Geo evolved, so I got his evolution on camera! I wanted to show you I've listened and have been training hard."

"I never thought you were a bad trainer," Anabel whispered, her mouth dry.

V's smile filled the whole screen. "Yeah, well, it was high time I put in some hard work."

"I'm glad," Anabel said, and she couldn't understand the feelings churning inside her that made that a lie. "I can hear Mom calling." _Two lies._ "See you tomorrow."

"I've packed everything. I can't wait, see you!"

"Me too." Anabel ended the call.

The picture with V and Machoke stared right back at her.

V had been the quiet one, the one people didn't bother to notice. She'd been all grays, blacks and browns, her long wild hair something to hide behind rather than show off. Now… now nobody would think V boring. With her hair half-purple and tamed curls instead of tangles, Anabel barely recognized her. In a good way, but… she barely recognized _any_ of them. Only Eeveevee was the same.

 _She'd missed so much! She should have been there!_

Anabel threw the vidphone on her bed. "Mom, can I get highlights on my hair like V?" she shouted.

"Uh, _no_ ," Mom called from the bathroom.

Of course not.

Anabel's chest was locked tight. She rushed down the stairs. She couldn't breathe.

"Grace and femininity, Donphan, the walls are shaking," Dad called from behind his book as Anabel dashed outside, all but slamming the door.

 _Machoke._ He'd want to be traded to evolve into a machamp. Anabel would have to call Seth. How long until Machoke would want to be freed back where he'd been caught? She'd never thought she'd have to give him up so _soon_.

Her breaths painful and shallow, Anabel ran, her feet digging in the grass. She didn't stop.

Minutes later, the quiet in the forest around her reminded her that Skarmory's pokeball was empty in her cupboard. _What if he never came back?_

Anabel dragged her feet, not caring for the scratches that roots and twigs were leaving on her new shoes. Hands balled in her pockets, she stared unseeingly at the ground.

 _Machop and Geo had_ _evolved_ _. V had changed so much. She'd done so much_ _without_ _her._

 _Why couldn't V have waited! Just a few days!_

 _Anabel swallowed back angry tears as she slapped a low-hanging vine away. The holidays had been wonderful. The day had started out_ _fine_ _._

 _Why did it hurt so much? V had looked so_ _happy_ _. She'd said_ _'I can't wait to see you.'_

 _But now Geo and Machop were fourth badge strong. They weren't supposed to train and train and train without getting badges in between! Espeon… Espeon and Skarmory had so much catching up to do! Would Espeon be upset –_

Anabel stumbled, catching herself against a moss-covered tree trunk. _Ew_. She wiped her dirty hand on her trousers, but now she just had dirty hands _and_ dirty trousers.

Anabel froze. She was surrounded by no trees she recognized. She spun on herself, her breath quickening. _Where was she?_

Forcing big calming breaths in her lungs, Anabel tried to backtrack, straining her ears for the sound of water. The stream shouldn't be far.

Every breath burned. _Why had she run?_ V was the one who ran away.

It was V's fault for not having kept her vidphone closer! All the worry had blown Anabel's stupid jealousy out of control.

But it was totally _Anabel's_ fault for having left without her vidphone, or Espeon.

 _Ghosts_ , Anabel recognized _nothing_.

 _You stupid numel!_ Her thoughts fragmented by panic, Anabel started running again.

She stopped dead when an odd sound reached her ears. It wasn't water, it wasn't growls, or sentret whistles, or rustling leaves. It wasn't wood cracking, beedril buzzing, or any sound people would make.

It was _compelling_.

Anabel followed it without an afterthought. It rose to a vibrant hum. It was bizarre, neither feeling nor noise. It tickled her ears and filled her mind. Her chest. It was everywhere.

She stumbled, feeling faint. Her vision blurred. It was louder. She pressed on, steadying herself on the trunks and trying to blink the sudden blindness out of her eyes. It was so _loud_ now. She fell, her hands flying to her head.

 _Stop, make it stop!_

Her perspective shifted.

She saw _herself_ , awkward and shivering on the ground. She tried to move her head. Wide lilac eyes _–her eyes!-_ met hers. A fear with two voices paralyzed her muscles.

 _Stop!_

She was violently yanked backwards, except her body hadn't moved. She opened her eyes. The world made sense again. _Sort of._

The hum had abated. A terrified-looking little yellow pokemon with a kite-shaped face, two small pointed ears and a long thick tail sat sprawled less than a foot from her face.

An abra.

That pokemon couldn't be a threat.

Anabel reached out with her hand, upset to see the fear in those white-less black eyes. She smiled tentatively.

Her mind filled with _want_.

She had to know _everything_. Her thoughts raced, breaking into a thousand questions, pulsing with ravenous curiousity.

She gasped for breath. A terrified voice at the back of her mind screamed that this wasn't _her_.

~Human.~

Anabel jumped to her feet. The hum was gone. Everything was silent again. She finally took in her surroundings, an unremarkable clearing, crowded with pokemon that were anything but unremarkable. Three kadabra and one alakazam stared at her. They did not look happy.

~Human,~ the sole alakazam repeated, its lips unmoving as its crystal voice filled her mind. ~The awakening is not for your kind.~

Anabel gulped and extended in a placating gesture. "I have no idea what happened. I heard a sound … _something_ and I followed without thinking. I'm so so sorry." She turned to the young abra at her feet. "I didn't mean to scare you."

It, _he_ , was adorable.

A flash upset her hold on reality. Her head was so heavy. Everything was bigger. She stood in front of herself. Something was different. She was _alien_.

 _Everything_. She had to know _everything_.

Anabel blinked, her eyesight normal again. The curiosity not-hers gone. She dizzily leaned against the nearest tree.

Nothing like _that_ had ever happened with Gengar.

Anabel took a shaky breath, staring back at the now wide-eyed abra. "But how?"

Gengar had been cold, echoes and winter winds. The abra felt different. Curiosity, neither warm nor cold, bubbled in Anabel's veins, tickling the edge of her mind, but it wasn't _hers_. It entwined with her feelings, similar but not, as if somebody had mixed two different types of music.

~The human mind is rarely unlocked. Your fledgling psychic sensitivity led you to us, Human. Your species' instinct is to flee the awakening, not seek it.~

Anabel shivered at the grave slow tone. Somehow she knew it was the alakazam, but the voice came from everywhere at once. It wasn't cold and uncomfortable like Gengar's, it didn't echo or shove all her other thoughts away. It settled neatly between her thoughts, emotionless. It was intense, foreign.

 _So she really was a little bit psychic._ Anabel swallowed, feeling terrible all over again.

"What do you want me to do now? Should I leave and not tell anyone? I'm alright," she said, desperate to go home.

Something tugged at her leg. Anabel smiled weakly and picked up the little abra. He wasn't heavy, but he wasn't light. Her hand went behind his head, like she'd seen babies held. His fingers were longer than hers but only three. Cheerful and curious bubbly bells surrounded her.

It was all silent now, but the psychic types' looks were loaded. They had to be speaking with thoughts. Silver streaked the alakazam's short whiskers. _Was it female?_

Confirmation burst like a shower of confetti in her mind. Anabel's frown dissolved. This abra-talking-to her thing took some getting used to. She ran her thumb against his wide forehead. His dark-yellow fur was much shorter and rougher than the eevee, even his thick tail felt rigid and heavy. She brushed her fingers against the brown armor-like shell that protected his shoulders and torso. It was hard and smooth, but also very warm. A smile bloomed on her lips.

"I'm not used to speaking without words," she whispered. "It's okay, but please, could you try to be a little quieter?"

"Brrah..."

The abra's face hadn't changed, but a wave of sharp alien frustration crashed into Anabel. She stumbled backwards, her hold on the pokemon tightening. She gasped, fighting down instinctive panic at being hit with emotions not hers.

"Brah." The voice was weird, flat-toned, but somehow, Anabel knew he was sorry.

She swallowed. The poor abra was just as confused as she was. "It's alright, don't worry."

The others had stopped talking.

~Human, are your nurturers from Verdanturf Town or the house by the forest?~

Anabel gave the alakazam a nervous smile. "The house."

~I will teleport you.~

 _Awesome_. She made to put the abra down.

~No, he must come,~ the alakazam said, her unblinking black eyes making Anabel nervous. ~There is much knowledge to be given.~

 _What?_

~Abra is awakening. Before, he could not contact unless he was contacted; it is the near-muteness of the very young. You have merged with him.~

 _Uh…_ "So he did _awaken_. That's good, no?"

The alakazam stared and Anabel squirmed, feeling very stupid. What did it mean 'merged'?

~The merging has rendered your minds open to the other. It is permanent.~

Anabel furrowed her brow. "And that's bad?" she said meekly. They'd taken Gengar from V, but Abra was little and harmless, and anyway Anabel wasn't making him come with her.

"The merging requires proximity. Unstable bonding is dangerous. You and Abra are a new circle."

Anabel's mind went to a screeching halt. _Wasn't 'circle' their word for family?_

 _She'd stolen a child from his family?_ Abra whimpered, his slanted eyes pained as he grasped her shirt and tugged.

Acute alien frustration pierced through her feelings, blurring her vision. She barely stopped herself from falling. A second later, the frustration was much weaker, and Anabel thought she sensed a flash of apology from Abra.

"It's alright," she whispered.

The alakazam kept staring, her face stern and emotionless.

"You're not angry, Elder?" she said, tentative about the title. But she owed the pokemon _something_ and remembered that word from Grandma's stories.

~'Guide', not 'Elder'. The fabric of reality is unaltered by emotions. The development is interesting. ~

 _They weren't upset?_ Abra was totally more curious than upset, and Anabel felt him so much more acutely than she ever had Espeon.

Some of the weight lifted off her chest.

"So it's not the first time this happens, Guide? You're here to explain and to make sure it'll all be alright?" A sense of giddiness was slowly invading her mind.

The alakazam grabbed her arm tightly. ~No and yes.~

Before Anabel could process what was happening, she found herself in her garden, shivering from shock.

"Anabel?"

Mom was staring at the three of them, wide-eyed by the door. Worry clung to her, a fall of ice-coated feathers.

Anabel froze. She'd _never_ sensed emotions that clearly.

"Bells, what's going on?"

Anabel found her voice. "Mom, I… I swear I just meant to take a walk and clear my mind. I…"

She couldn't believe she'd lost it like that just because Machop evolved. _What was wrong with her?_

"Is something wrong?"

The alakazam stepped forward before Anabel could formulate an answer. ~Do you have a mate?~

Mom stared. The feathers stuck together, trapping her in a prison of ice. She straightened and nodded. "Yes, Max! MAX!"

"We can go inside, maybe?" Ann said, an echo of fear seeping in her bones. _Mom's feelings… they shouldn't be so… obvious._

The alakazam teleported.

Mother and daughter shared a confused glance.

Abra pointed towards the house. "Ah."

Dad's voice cut the air. "ROBIN!"

They rushed inside.

Espeon stood between Dad and the alakazam, her ears folded down and body frozen in a half-crouch. Slowly she straightened and relaxed, her twin tails whipping the air.

"You have no Guide," the alakazam said after a tense moment.

"We saw no need for it. Ann's been doing fine. She's a normal little girl."

Anabel winced, letting herself fall on the couch. Dad looked confident, he sounded confident, but ropes of fear twisted and tugged at his muscles. Not _fear_ , fear was sharp and hard. This was a blunt fear that shackled. Anabel could barely breathe. _Concern_. Why was concern suddenly so loud? She'd never seen… sensed feelings like _this_. What was happening to her?

She turned to Abra, who'd jumped on the couch too. Everything was new, the softness, the shape, the smells of the room. Anabel's heartbeat accelerated as she became acutely aware of her senses, rediscovering things that familiarity had dismissed to the back of her brain.

"Do you have a name?"

Abra's huge almond eyes stared at her, his confusion poking around her mind as if his very thoughts were solid.

"Should I call you something other than 'Abra'?"

She was confusing him. She was making him curious.

"Just 'Abra' for now," she decided, smiling as he carefully picked up a pillow.

 _What are those made of? What are they for?_ Questions, too many questions for a single brain tickled the edge of Anabel's mind.

"They're… cloth," she whispered. "They're comfortable and look nice."

A huge yawn burst from her mouth. She shook her heavy head, wishing it would all get less loud. Loudest was Abra, a bright shining ball of wonder. But the ball had cracks and sharp edges. Things were changing fast for him too, and the pillow Abra half-hid behind was _safe_. She shuddered as searing tendrils brushed her skin.

Pulsing fire clung to Mom like a tentacruel, new twisting tentacles appearing every second.

 _Why was Mom angry? It wasn't fair! Why couldn't they just be calm!_

" – about Abra?" Mom was saying.

~Humans can teach much. We perfect the bonding. We do not oppose it.~

"She's a child! You're going to take the abra with you, Guide," Mom said, her voice low and shaking. "I'm not risking my daughter's well-being for the sake of… of an _experiment_!"

Blades of sharp glass – _fear_ \- stronger than than Mom's fire sliced throught everything. Anabel shuddered. She wanted to hide, to run. She couldn't move. Shivers wracked her body. _What's going on!_ She wasn't looking anymore, but she could still sense it. _Why were her parent's feelings so loud!_

Anabel gasped when she a hand, an _invisible_ hand, grabbed her. Grabbed _something_ of her. Like a limb she hadn't know she had. She could _feel_ it. The flames and blades were gone.

~Pull back your senses. You are making their emotions yours. You must find control.~

Alakazam's black eyes trapped hers. The pokemon shone with solid brightness that left very little space for feelings. With Alakazam's help, Anabel shakily 'pulled back'.

Mom's eyes went very wide, every trace of expression vanishing.

"What are you doing to her?" Anabel exclaimed.

"Reading her mind. It won't harm her," Dad said, his calm a terrible lie. Whips of fire cut into him, and at tight-woven golden net wrapped around them, chasing them back, but bits kept breaking off and shooting out like screaming bullets of hail.

Anabel tried to stay away, she did. _What was this golden brightness around everyone?_

~Abra will not oppose Anabel. Attempting comparison with the gengar is meaningless. Abra's… 'influence' is rational. It is safe. ~

Anabel watched amazed how Mom's and Dad's brightness twisted into golden threads at the alakazam's words, blunting the fear, quenching the anger, and dragging the emotions back behind shining walls.

"Mom, Dad," she said in a shaky voice. "Your feelings are so _loud_." Abra had crawled on the back of the sofa. "Is he doing this?"

~No. He is shielding from you.~

"I can feel it, I think," Anabel breathed. Like a solid bubble, between her and the little pokemon now testing out the window knob. There were no more questions tickling her mind, no more pulsing curiosity.

~You need a Guide. The merging accelerated what would have happened.~

"We were told most psychics bloom at puberty," Dad whispered, and the bright gold chains got stronger, burning away the warring feelings. "We'll look into it."

 _Gold is reason and control_. The answer had popped in her mind, loud and clear. She snapped her head towards Abra, who was staring back at her.

~Thanks,~ she thought tentatively.

 _Control._ So the gold was how Mom and Dad kept their emotions in check. Everything was so fascinating and scary.

Anabel's breath hitched. She didn't want to be a freak.

~She needs a Guide,~ the old alakazam repeated. ~I will return to assess the completion of the merging. Abra is of your circle now.~

"Do we have a say in it?" Mom said, like she couldn't believe this.

~Circles are not to be broken.~

The alakazam teleported away.

"I was told of a suicide and experiments when we bought the house, not of abra in the forest–"

"Robin, please," Dad said, frowning deeply. He took Mom's hand and made her sit down. "Bells, are you alright?"

 _Abra is of your circle now._

"I'm sorry, really," Anabel said, "I didn't mean to run into them." Mom's shards of fear cut into her. Fear Anabel had caused. It wasn't right. She wanted them to feel _safe._

Anabel gasped as the shards broke apart, falling in a shower of dust.

"Mom, I think I can make the fear go," she breathed. Maybe she could help instead of just making messes.

Broken into splinters, the cutting tendrils were swallowed by Mom's golden brightness.

Anabel winced, shutting her eyes briefly. _Ghosts, this was exhausting._

"Come here, sweetie," Mom said, pulling Anabel in as tight a hug as she could. "We love you so much. We'll manage." The hug held a song. A warm song that had to be love.

"Speh!"

Espeon looked so _simple_ right now. Her emotions didn't wrap and coil and merge. Anabel only heard lovely chimes that made her feel better.

Anabel hugged Espeon, clinging to her warmth, her softness.

"Espeon, please show Abra our room so he can get settled." _Would she have to ball Abra? Was that even right?_

But she had a much more important question. "V's still coming over, right?"

Mom and Dad shared a look. "Your Mom will call Merle. He'll know which resources are available to psychics."

Everything sharp and angry had dissolved, leaving water-like tendrils that felt heavy and stifling.

"Dad… Your anger turned… _sad_. I'm… removing it makes me tired, I'm not sure I can."

"I'm not sad," Dad huffed. "It's just… a lot to take in."

"You're not removing our emotions unless it's hurting you, Ann," Mom said softly. "We'll need to talk about the morals of this. It's a fine line between helping and manipulating."

 _Yes…_ Anabel was so exhausted. She smiled, warmed by the song much louder than the remaining mess of emotions. Some kids had to worry if their parents loved them. Anabel really did not.

"V has read a lot on mind-bonds," she pleaded. "She'll be happy to help. I… I really want her here."

"She can come," Mom agreed. A slow breath left her chest. "Max, let's got think where it won't affect our daughter." The cutting worry was back, making Mom's calm face a lie. "Ann, don't leave the house, obviously."

"I won't."

Alone in the living-room, Anabel swallowed. She childishly wanted to shout at Mom and Dad to come back, but she was so relieved at the sudden… _silence_.

A shudder ran up her spine. She tucked her knees under her chin.

 _What did this all mean, for their Journey?_

* * *

 **So there you go, accelerated psychic puberty through encounter-with-an-abra.** **This scene was one of the first I wrote for this fic, and one of the few that survive without a complete overhaul from the very first draft all those years ago, so I'm very happy to have it out.**

 **Don't hesitate to drop a word, it'd make my day.**


	37. Empath

**CHAPTER 37: Empath**

 **September 1st 341 – Tuesday**

Light floated through the cracks in the shutters, teasing Anabel awake. A weird load – no, a _presence_ \- in her mind made it all come back. _Abra_. He wasn't in the bedroom, but she could feel him.

Anabel's hands flew to her head. It was so _heavy_. She shifted on the pillow, but it didn't get better. She shut her eyes instinctively. Her brain – no, _Abra_ \- was grabbing her somehow.

He was outside, exploring.

It was like being on a rocking boat, and maybe drunk, because everything was shifting and Anabel's mind was torn between two places. Eyes shut, she could almost _see_ it: the kichen window was open and Abra was seated outside under the window sill, against the wall, too short to be seen. The voices inside, _Dad, Grandma_ , were talking about her.

~Don't move,~ Anabel urged sleepily. It came out in mumbles as much as thoughts, but what mattered was that he got it. ~I want to hear.~

Abra listened, tinkling like a hundred tiny curious bells.

Grandma didn't sound impressed. "I see Robin is calling big brother to the rescue, but even Merle doesn't have all the answers."

"Do you, Byrde? You told us to pretend Anabel's empathy was just a quirk, something unimportant." Anabel's breath hitched. _They'd known?_ "For years we did, and now she dreams of travelling with Valeria, and we'll have to tell her that she can't."

 _No! They couldn't do that!_

"Nothing should have happened before she hit puberty. Journeys teach independence, civility, social awareness, resourcefulness, and confidence," Anabel could totally picture her father's 'are you kidding me?' face. "And when they don't, Max," Grandma stressed, "they shake a kid into knowing what they want and asking for it. Without your Journey, you'd not have had the balls to ask to be emancipated at sixteen."

 _Emancipated? What was that?_

"This isn't about me. It's about Bells, who instead of gradually accepting she's exceptional, is being hit with everything simultaneously. She can feel and remove our emotions, Byrde. How can I be a parent if she feels my every fear?"

Hearing the shake in her father's voice had Anabel squirm. Her fingers clenched around the covers, as if she could hide and pretend she hadn't heard. _This was all her fault! And her Journey…_

Anabel abruptly shook her head. Abra was… confused. Curious. He poked at her emotions at her thoughts, as if answers would pop out.

But there was no time to explain. Suddenly, Anabel was full of energy despite her pulsing head. She ran down the stairs in her overlarge sleeping-T-shirt, stomping her feet for good measure.

 _No way her Journey was over!_ _There had to be another way!_

Three faces turned to stare when she showed up. Her throat caught.

"Hi, Grandma, Dad, Mom," she managed. It wasn't _just_ Grandma, Dad, Mom. Everything was _more_ , there was-

Grandma raised her eyebrows. "Slippers, girl, and if it's too hot to sleep in pyjamas, at least throw something on for breakfast. I taught you better."

Another day, Anabel might have winced and rushed back up the stairs, but today Anabel stared in wonder. It was _there_ again, the silent singing chimes she could somehow hear now.

"You always speak of duty and how you have to do stuff for us, but you… the song… It's like Mom and Dad! Why don't you just say that you love us?"

Grandma's mouth opened and shut, but the song coming from her didn't dim, hugging them all.

Grandma's face split into a smile, a warm broad smile of the kind you didn't forget. "Because I knew my psychic granddaughter would finally get around to it."

"Your grandmother always knows everything," Dad said knowingly, smile there too but arms still crossed.

Grandma had tears in her eyes. Confusion so insistent it could just be Abra's echoed in her mind, so Anabel did the only thing she knew couldn't go wrong.

She hugged Grandma, swallowed in Grandma's chimes, Abra's confusion, and a dozen feelings she hadn't asked for. She concentrated on Grandma's warmth, her perfume, and tried to keep everything else away.

"I must fly, but do call if there's an emergency." Grandma's dry voice was so at odds with the soft hand caressing Anabel's hair. "I'll shotgun my career for the family if I must."

"Don't worry, Mom," Mom was by the kitchen door, a bowl of coffee in her hands. She lifted her eyes to the ceiling with a faint smile. "Max and I are all grown up now. We'll survive."

Anabel stared in incredulous delight as Grandma winked and blew her a parting kiss. _Maybe_ , maybe empathy was actually a _gift_.

Dad turned to her, his arms crossed. "Grandma chimes _as strong_ as your own mom and dad's?"

Bubbles mixed with Mom's chimes, tearing a giggle from Anabel. Mom put her coffee down and begun to laugh, and Anabel just laughed harder, hugging her tight.

"It's going to be alright, Baby," Mom whispered in her ear.

Oo*oOo*oO

" _Ahh_ , stop it!"Anabel groaned, letting herself fall back on the bed. _And why did her head still feel like it weighted a ton? She'd taken a pill and everything!_

"Abra, you're psychic, so protect her or something."

The seething resentment around V was snagged and dissolved by golden chains. They were sharp with fear, but it was an ally-fear, that killed V's other bad emotions.

V huffed, a smile snaking up her lips, her golden control firmly in charge and soft chimes brushing Anabel's ears. "This is nuts, Ann. Brilliant, though."

Her eyes bright with relief, Anabel rolled over, latching onto V with a laugh. There was something strong, something awed, to V's chimes. Mom's and Dad's wrapped Anabel tight in a blanked of love, but V's… they were an extended hand to rush off and face the world. They filled her with the conviction that she could do anything.

A lock of black-and-purple hair tickled her nose.

"Was the purple because of Gengar?" Anabel wondered. "I thought green was your favourite."

V scowled. "It's not Gengar-purple _at all_. Maybe I'll try green next time. You'd like green better?"

"No, no." She liked this V full of colors. This V who _cared_.

Something creaked above them.

"Ann, Skarmory's back!" Mom called.

Anabel and V shared mirror grins, rushing outside where all their pokemon were already having fun.

"Brah!" Abra protested.

Anabel realized he'd begun trying to reshape his golden bubble like V had asked. "It's alright, we'll do that later."

A puff of frustration sizzled out of abra, but he followed after them.

Anabel sighed. Uncle Merle should be there in a couple of hours. Hopefully things would start making sense.

"Welcome back, Beautiful," Anabel greeted. "Had fun? How far did you go?"

Skarmory hit his bracelet on the ground, his wings opening merrily when the toy lit up. "Skarmory, skar- mory, skar."

"All the way to Fallarbor?" Anabel laughed as the steel bird's enthusiasm wrapped her in a swirl of chimes. "Let's get that sign off you. I'm proud of you for avoiding trouble."

Anabel flinched and lost her balance. Everything vanished, replaced by a dream-like image of Abra riding a flying Skarmory.

Anabel groaned. She was on the ground. She'd have a big fat bruise on her left leg. "Abra, I'm a baby when it comes to these psychic things. Go easy."

"Or I'll punch you," V said with an all too bright smile.

Abra recoiled, his fear shooting out in shards. He vanished.

"ABRA!" Anabel shouted. _Where had he teleported?_ ~You're safe. She doesn't mean it! She isn't going to punch you. Come back!~ _Could he hear her ?_ "V, honestly!"

Abra teleported right behind her, looking warily at V.

V's face went slack. _What –_ _Abra was reading her –_ Burning chaos suddenly swirled around V, draping her in a furious shadow.

They were fighting over _nothing_. Anabel balled her fists so hard to stop from shouting at them. _How could they make it all about themselves when -_

"Abra, I'm not an abra," V ground out. "Privacy _matters_. Stay out of my mind, or I'll focus on every single horrid memory I have so you can live them too! You want to know something, _ask_."

Anabel stumbled backwards, her hear racing with a panic not her own.

"Could you not convince him you hate him?" she croaked. _And come on, Gengar could mind-talk to V but not this cute little abra?_

V sucked back her anger almost as fast as it had come. _Wow_. "Sorry, Abra, of course I don't hate you. I'll soon like you loads. We just have to all have learning to do." She sighed, a rueful smile gracing her lips. "It's not the end of the world if I get mad at you. I won't hit you, I promise."

" _See_ ," Anabel said. She giggled. It was all so _weird_. She blinked, her wandering psychic senses focusing on Abra. He was drowning in _weird, weird, weird_ , but the happy wonder kind, as he tried to figure out the hows and whys of people.

"Oh, Abra wants to fly on Skarmory," she recalled, trying to pull back from the waterfall of tiny crystal bells splashing her just as much as Abra.

Skarmory hadn't let them fly. He'd panicked when Anabel had hurt his hands on his sharp neck feathers, and hadn't cared when they'd tried to talk of solutions like thick gloves, so they'd reluctantly let it go. Anabel had hoped he'd change his mind. Maybe Abra would figure out how to.

An image of Skarmory's claw flashed in her mind. This time, it was like Anabel had known it was coming and she didn't lose her balance. She blinked. "Right. Abra figures Skarmory can carry him in his claw."

Excitement sharpened V's gaze. "That's clever. Let's try it."

"Only if Skarmory agrees," Anabel warned. She'd felt the panic _before_ and it had been enough to make her heart race and her mouth dry. Now… she didn't even want to think about what it'd do to her _now_.

It was only a few seconds before Skarmory handed his paw out. "Skar."

 _What a dear._ "Thank you, Abra, you can go."

Of course, the moment Eeveevee realized what they were up to, she rushed up to Skarmory, bouncing like a spoink, and spraying crystal chimes all the way to the house.

"Eeveevee too," Anabel laughed. "He's got two paws. Don't go far and don't drop them from too high when you land, Skarmory. Maybe later we can figure out a sort of saddle…"

~'Saddle'?~ The voice high-pitched, clear and oddly smooth.

"A saddle is something we'll put on his back so we don't hurt ourselves or accidentally slide off," Anabel explained. _Had that been the first word she'd heard from Abra?_

A grin bloomed on her lips. Abra could _talk_. Of course he could.

Skarmory, Abra and Eeveevee soon were too far for her to sense, but V's laughter, a shower of bubbles and little singing bells, told her all Anabel needed to know. Watching them all felt like family, the best kind.

The landing wasn't _too_ rough. Eeveevee crashed and rolled on the ground and yapped like her dreams had come true. Abra teleported just before Skarmory let him go, leaving the bird to stare confusedly at his claw and the little pokemon now seated a few yards away.

Anabel gasped when she suddenly saw herself in Skarmory's claw. _Was that what hallucinations looked like?_

Her heart raced with possibilities. "Skarmory, would you carry me in your claws? Put one under each of my upper arms and then when you land, you slow down enough to drop me and then you land? Your feet are smooth. It won't hurt or make me bleed as long as you're careful with your claws."

She held her breath as Skarmory seemed to ponder it. His head turned to Abra and tilted to the side, but he seemed to take this psychic-speak thing in stride.

"Mo-ree." It was hesitant, but it was a yes.

A whoop of triumph burst from Anabel's chest. ~Abra, you're awesome!~

Anabel gasped as soon as Skarmory flapped his wings. She wasn't so much lifted as sharply _tugged_. The ground vanished under them. Her shoulders protested, not used to carrying her whole weight, but for the first time, she could see her house, he garden, from _above_.

She laughed and shouted, until a spike of concern from Skarmory made her catch her breath. "It's great, you're not hurting me at all," she said breathlessly. The air sung a soft melody of sweet chimes hung. Skarmory was _happy_. A shiver ran up her spine as she realized how _far_ the ground was.

"Let's go back down," she called.

"Waaah!" She tripped and fell on all fours when Skarmory dropped her. She scrambled back upright, shaking through her laughter despite her bruised knees. V was clapping, and everyone added their voice to an entwining of joyful silent songs

"May I do the same?" V eagerly asked Skarmory.

"Moree." This time, there was no hesitation.

V slid her vidphone's cord around her neck. "Brilliant, I'll take a video from up there."

Oo*oOo*oO

"Hello, Sparkle!" Uncle Merle jumped off his bike and opened arms wide open to greet them. "With all Robin's been telling me, I've begun to think I should be studying people instead of pokemon. You're the most interesting niece an uncle's ever been blessed with."

Anabel laughed, hugging him warmly. He made it sound like she'd be his new pet project, but in his arms she was wrapped in song just like with her parents, even if it wasn't as loud or familiar.

V held her hand out with a slightly awkward smile. "I heard lots of good about you, Professor. I had pictured you more… wild."

"I heard a lot of good about _you_ , V," Uncle replied. He chuckled and ran a hand in his close cut copper hair, before rubbing his just-as-short beard. "You know what they say: beauty is on the inside." He soon had his _let-me-teach-you-something_ face. "Pokemon are visual, ladies. In the science division, we all work with scyther and the occasionally poliwrath. Like Jennys and Rangers, we keep our pokemon by our side. Always the same pokemon, always the same uniforms: it tells wild pokemon that I'm there to observe."

"You got the book on abra?" Anabel said. Uncle could go on for hours on any topic if they didn't interrupt him. There always was a point to what he said, but Anabel didn't always have the patience for it.

"And a short version for right now, Professor?" V added. "I've managed to traumatize him twice already."

Anabel laughed. Abra had gotten over it as soon as Skarmory had lifted him up in the sky.

"Abra and evolutions are very focused, curious and intelligent. Usually they have a few specific interests, and each circle shares them. They are social, in that they have been reported to prefer to pursue a mild interest with other pokemon, than one of their main interests alone. They have some empathy and will try to avoid others' suffering, even at the cost of time or the opportunity to gain more knowledge. Because interests are specific, circles with different or similar interests occasionally meet to expand their 'database' of knowledge. They have near perfect recall."

Anabel nodded thoughtfully. _Would it be cheating if she brought Abra to school?_ "But when it's about feelings and stuff..."

Uncle Merle grinned. "Oh, he has everything to learn. I don't know how much he'll feel, as opposed to just _understand_ , but as long as you're both happy, there's no point in trying to make him human."

"Yeah, as long as he doesn't flip out the day Anabel wants to have sex, a husband and kids," V muttered.

 _What?_ Where had _that_ come from? Anabel stepped back from the unexpected fear trapping V in a wall of spikes and glass. A fear that was burning up with something dangerous, something that wouldn't hesitate to _hurt_.

"Or get bored of Ann and I being friends, and decide to drag her somewhere they can be together alone."

"Stop," Anabel breathed. She had to break the glass. V had no reason to hate Abra, V shouldn't be-

 _Oops_. The glass was gone and V was looking at her very, very weirdly. "Did you just make me… calmer?"

"Sorry, Mom said I shouldn't do that, but-"

Anabel swallowed back tears _._ She couldn't do this. She couldn't handle everyone's emotions all the time.

She spun round. Abra had teleported near her. He must've left a very confused Skarmory behind.

She had to smile when the bubble around Abra began to grow, struggling to become two bubbles, as he tried again to include her in it.

"What's he doing?" Uncle asked.

"Trying to protect me, I think," she said, crouching to scratch Abra's ears. "All these emotions… it's… a lot."

Abra's pointy ears twitched in irritation. _Oops_. _Not like Espeon then._ ~Where would you rather be touched?~

Abra's eyes met hers, confused, but then he let his head loll backwards, against her chest. His mouth opened in a wide yawn, as she cradled his head. That big head sitting on that tiny neck.

 _That_ was why her head felt so weirdly heavy since she'd met Abra!

"Professor, why did the alakazam leave Abra with Ann so easily?"

Anabel tensed, but this time V seemed just honestly curious.

Uncle made a face, his eyes crinkling. "I can only guess, but you get access to knowledge around humans that's harder to come across in the wilds. The species on the whole must think that's a good thing... I've read just last night of kadabra who actively sought out psychics, often young adults. I'm sure that the fact that they evolve into alakazam when they bond, just like when they change circles, is also a factor. "

"But the alakazam read Mom's mind. Mom's not psychic."

"A non-psychic wouldn't tolerate prolonged contact long. Especially with a young abra, who has no experience of the human mind."

Anabel shot a look at V, who was now swirling with tendrils of… suspicion? "What are you thinking?"

"Whether Gengar broke the minds of the first people he bonded with. He never mentioned anybody being psychic." She shrugged. "Anyway, he has experience now, and he's probably much less powerful than an actual psychic-type when it comes to mind-things."

 _Valeria had scary thoughts._

"Anabel," Uncle Merle said, looking graver, "there's a facility for psychic kids. It's called Psyduck Village and listed as an exclusive holiday location, but that's just for privacy. It's on an small island between Pacifidlog Town and Mossdeep City."

Privacy? It sounded like they had to be _hidden_. Anabel swallowed.

"It's a boarding school to teach you to master your abilities. It's safe," Uncle said softly.

"What about my pokemon?"

"I'm waiting for an answer to that."

She and Abra stiffened as one. _They couldn't say no! That wasn't fair!_

"Can't she get a teacher to come here?"

The plea in V's voice was like a punch.

 _Freak_. Uncle didn't have to tell her. Anabel had a _License_. Espeon, Machoke and Skarmory were her _friends_. They wouldn't forbid them unless she was a freak.

Uncle looked dead serious. "Unfortunately she has to go."

"Yeah, well, Abra's going to have to be allowed, or some owner's going to get his head ripped out by an alakazam. _'The merging must be done'_ ," V mimicked with a grim smile.

~The merging must be complete.~

They all started. V was the first to frown at Abra. Anabel instinctively cradled him tighter.

"Did he just tell me off for getting my imitation wrong?"

"It's not arrogance," Uncle said. He had a straight face, but bubbles were spewing everywhere. Anabel couldn't help her chuckles. "Accuracy is important to them."

Valeria made a skeptical _hmmm_ sound but then she winked at Abra. "You _nerd_."

Despite her laughter, despair pooled in Anabel's stomach _. No Journey for… weeks? months?_ _And no pokemon?_ But at least V had her back.

"Uncle, can't I convince them it'd be better to practice on Espeon than on people? Abra doesn't get as emotional, so I totally should take both." _Ghosts, could Anabel sound any less desperate?_

"I'll do my best, Bells. I know that you'll first get a mentor. Later you'll spend time with kids like you, in a supervised environment. They have a visitor policy. We won't forget you."

' _Later'. How much later?_ "Mom and Dad are freaking out… V too."

V crossed her arms. "I'm not freaking out. Catch, I'm _mad_! I… I won't let them keep us apart. I'm going to Mossdeep anyway."

That was new. Mossdeep spread over a large island off the eastern mainland. It was home to the seventh, and second toughest, Gym in Hoenn. It was said to be a very pretty place, with lots of diving spots and even a space center. _Did V want to take a holiday?_ "Why?"

"After Geo and Machop evolved, I watched those evolution videos with Eeveevee again. Her mind's made up on glaceon." A smile broke V's lips. "It's the snowflakes. There's an ice rock north of Mossdeep."

Still seated in the grass with Abra's head against her chest, Anabel hugged Abra harder. _She'd miss so much, again!_ "Uncle, when do I have to go?"

"You're with the people who love you most in the world, Ann," Uncle said. A tendril of misty water stretched out from him, almost brushing her cheek. "This is as easy as it'll get for you with non-psychics and, well…"

"I'm sorry, I –" She flinched, suddenly confused. He… _he_ was sorry, not her. Well she was, but she hadn't been before he'd reminded her with-

"How are you feeling?" Uncle's voice tore her back to reality.

She hated the point that he was making. "All over the place …" she admitted sullenly. It was a miracle she hadn't burst into tears yet.

And she was so tired.

She blinked. The oddest blanket off cotton warmth was draped over her mind. _She'd felt it before._ Her eyes fell on Abra. He was asleep, in a weird seated-hunched position with his thick tail curled over his crossed legs. His head still heavy against her chest.

Anabel fought the building yawn in her chest. 'Merging' or not, she'd better not start sleeping sixteen hours a day.

"We're leaving on Friday," Uncle said softly, chimes with sharpened edges reaching out towards her.

Afraid of the bite of fear, Anabel exhaled when she realized what her uncle felt was just concern. _Friday_. _Just two days and then…_

Bubbles popped all around, drawing a helpless grin on her lips. _What-_

V had a weird tight-lipped smile, a calculating look in her eyes. "Ann, this is tough now. Later, though, you're going to be incredible. Abra _must_ learn to teleport you, and if he learns to teleport both of us together... We'll never, _ever_ get into trouble again!"

Ann watched amazed as V's slicing fear and slithers of acid bitterness fought against an onslaught of bubbles and a thick fog of… something. Something safe, something ambitious, and the chimes ringing around them proved that friendship was winning despite all the disappointment.

A tear escaped her eyes. _Ghosts, she was tired._

' _Incredible.'_ Anabel laughed softly, relief only bringing more treacherous tears. "I wish you could come with me."

"I won't be far," V vowed. "I'll call, and remember the codes. We can help, okay? First sign of trouble, I'm getting you out of there."

Anabel gently set Abra down in a comfortable sleeping position. She stood up and wrapped her best friend in a desperate hug. She didn't want to forget this feeling. _Everyone's special brand of chimes._

"Could we… Could we free Metagross tomorrow? I'm not sure I'll get another chance soon."

She'd be less tired by tomorrow, and she could calm it. _Them_. The four beldum stuck in one metagross. The pokecenter couldn't do anything for metagross. Now Anabel might really be able to help them.

She just didn't want everyone to think that this was _bad_. She didn't want to be a freak.

* * *

 **Just one more chapter to go. Thanks for being part of this.**


	38. Parting Ways

**One year from beginning to end! Happy new year, and I hope you enjoyed the ride.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 38: Parting Ways**

 **September 2nd 341 – Wednesday**

Anabel's question had been met by thrums of enthusiasm before she'd even finished. She'd know, of course, but now she could _feel_ why Uncle Merle loved figuring out new things. His curiosity was like a music of its own.

"Twins?" Uncle repeated. "That's… Honestly, I can't say 100%. They're growing and training normally?"

"Well, Seth didn't notice anything weird…"

"I'll get them tested. I'll take a fur sample. I'd say the biggest risk is that they're infertile."

 _Infertile?_ "Oh…" Had Espeon and Eeveevee wanted babies? _Fluffy pointy eared kits with -._ Anabel sniffed. "But _why_? How do you even get twins?"

"That breeder of yours may have used fertility drugs, to boost the amount of eggs each female will lay. They're illegal, because most pokemon don't tolerate them, and there haven't been enough tests to assess side-effects."

"Foxy… that must've been the Eevees' mom. She didn't –"

"He saved our Journey, Ann."

Anabel had always known that V's face wasn't good at showing her true feelings. V's voice had been soft, her frown there but not upset-looking. And yet fiery spikes, _anger and fear_ , _concern_ , beat against the golden mist that kept V in control. Anabel hated that she had to take a step back from her best friend, hated not knowing if her own sudden burst of anger and fear were truly _hers_ or just some kind of freak mirror effect that made her feel others' feelings when she got too close to them.

"He was nice to us. He's the reason Gengar's not with the criminals anymore."

"No, that's _you_ , V. Cinders kept loads of secrets from us." But despite everything, Ann _was_ kind of fond of the man.

"Maybe it was a one-time thing." V crossed her arms as she faced Uncle. "No twins hatched while we were there, Professor."

 _Couldn't she call him Merle already?_

"Valeria, relax, I won't get him arrested. I want you to trust me, and call me whenever you have questions." Anabel watched fascinated as Uncle's words melted most of the spikes around V. "Don't wait so long next time. Don't be afraid, not of me."

V smiled faintly. "Does he mean it?" she whispered at Anabel.

Anabel huffed. "I don't think lying's an emotion." Her lips broke into a grin. "But sure, he means it, don't you, Uncle?"

Uncle nodded solemnly, chimes singing a low tune (everyone had their own tunes – Anabel desperately wished she had more words to describe it) as he winked at her.

"I got confirmation," he added. "Abra's very welcome at the Village. They're familiar with such psychic connections. We'll need him to be bound to a pokeball."

 _She wouldn't be alone!_ Uncle Merle stumbled when Anabel flew into his arms. She giggled as they almost fell over, chimes tumbling all around. He had _some_ muscles, but compared to dad, he was pretty skinny.

"First Abra, next Espeon," V said, a scheming look on her face.

Anabel's chest tightened. She didn't even want to _think_ they might not let her take Espeon. "What about Gengar?" she asked, desperate to change the subject. "When will you see him?"

Anabel felt suddenly very, _very_ frustrated. _Ugh_. V was shooting tiny fire explosions everywhere. A ragged breath escaped Anabel's lungs. She had to back away from V, _again_. She clutched her ears with her hands, her eyes shut, but of course it didn't help. "Uncle, it's not right! You've got to do something!"

"What's happening exactly?"

V scowled, arms crossed. "I called Officer Targe, that's the Jenny with burn scars I'd talked to. I called her like she said, after two weeks. She said everything was okay and that Gengar had been sent to Lavaridge to the Rangers. She said the investigation was ongoing and that the Rangers would be the ones finding a specialist for the tests that will tell if I'm allowed Gengar. Targe _promised_ she'd ask them to let me talk to Gengar. But she didn't call back! So _I_ did, two days ago, and I got upset. That's when she admitted the Rangers weren't telling her anything except to _wait._ They say it's also to protect _me_ , but that's so dumb!"

V suddenly giggled, a cloud of bubbles covering the fire bursts. She waved at Anabel and Anabel realized she was standing a good five yards away from her best friend, and she _still_ felt the hot anger.

"Sorry, Ann. It's okay." Along with V's words, a mist of gold sucked back most of the anger. It was still there, but locked-in, controlled. "After evolving Eeveevee, I'll go to Lavaridge myself to see the Rangers. They won't be able to say they're too busy _then_."

"Call me if they bully you," Uncle said. He looked concentrated and far away. That had to mean he was taking this seriously and thinking. Anabel let it make her feel confident.

Valeria eyed Uncle thoughtfully. "Could you be my uncle too, Professor? Ann, do you mind sharing?"

"I don't accept nieces who call me 'Professor'," Uncle warned with a smile.

Anabel laughed and rushed back next to them, her ears filling with chimes and bells.

Oo*oOo*oO

Anabel gasped. She'd have fallen had she not been seated on the sofa already. Black spots filled her vision. Her stomach was somersaulting. They should have done this _before_ lunch.

"Ann?"

The living room was a blur. Tiny cutting flakes swirled all around. _Concern_. _Uncle, V, Mom, Dad_. They weren't standing too close, or it'd have been worse.

Anabel's stomach heaved, sweat pearling on her brow. _Free him, now._ A pitiful croak left her mouth. She had to wait. _One, two, three, four –_

She took a deep breath, tears filling her eyes as her vision cleared. Abra looked just as miserable, hugging himself on the floor.

"You don't have to keep him balled, but he has to be bound to a pokeball," Uncle said. He did sound sorry at least. "Well done for not breaking out of the ball, Abra."

The small pokemon miserably held his big head between his paws and barely twitched his thick yellow tail.

Anabel gratefully took the glass of water Dad handed her. "Why was it so bad?"

"You interrupted the ceremony where Abra was linking himself to his circle. To simplify, he linked to your psychic energy, your mind, instead," Uncle explained. "The pokeball tries to separate you, and it's unpleasant. When you'll both be more mature, psychically, it won't be an issue anymore."

"Okay," Anabel said, wiping her eyes. _Ghosts, she didn't want to go through that again._ "Let's free Metagross. It's big and scary. Please don't get scared."

"We're never scared!" Dad said, scrunching up his face in a hideously offended expression.

Anabel laughed, wishing it were true. It hurt that she might have believed him until she'd met Abra.

"Of course we feel fear," Mom said with a soft smile. "Fear that doesn't control you is just another facet of caring."

The golden strands around Mom's spiking fear were solid and tight. Ann grinned, cocking her head when she glanced at V. "Did you just smash your own emotions?" It was weird, like a solid slab of control, except-

V flinched. "Um… I'm just waiting for you to free Metagross."

"Bells, stop peeking and free the beast."

Despite the smiles, Anabel realized Dad had just told her off. A stone lodged itself in her stomach. She didn't _want_ to be rude with her empathy, it's just…

"I have the Berries," V announced. "Go for it, Ann."

"Masterballs put the pokemon inside them to sleep instead of the light hypnosis of regular balls," Uncle said. "Metagross should come out calm."

Espeon and Abra stood closest when she freed Metagross. The blue steel robot hovered awkwardly, its four legs spasming. It didn't seem to register its surroundings.

"You're right, Uncle," Anabel said. "It's not angry anymore."

Metagross' feelings stirred awake. Cutting icycles spiked all around it, but weirder still, they sprung from different places near the center of the pokemon _. Four diff-_ Anabel's eyes widened. _Of course_. Thin golden threads linked Metagross' four poorly merged brains together _. Too thin_. They were fraying on every edge, sliced by the continuous barrage of exhausted panic.

 _Was it in pain?_

She had to remove its fear, then maybe the four brains would become one properly. She reached out instinctively, like she had with Mom. She had to get closer.

"Keep the masterball in your hand. If we shout, you press it," Mom urged, wisps of fear wriggling past her control. "Take no chances."

Anabel slowly walked up to the huge robot, her face barely reaching the silver cross covering half its central piece. Red unfocused eyes failed to register her presence.

Until she touched it.

Metagross' four legs extended, striking the ground with a heavy thump. Anabel stiffened but didn't pull back. She'd allow no emotions, dissolving every last spike of fear. Anabel could already feel the beginning of a headache. She gasped, her mind clearing and focusing as Abra joined her.

She smiled in awe. ~It's easier now, thank you.~

Metagross was staring at her, the golden threads thickening, but it wasn't enough. It didn't have the strength. Alone, the robot pokemon would never be in control.

"It needs to eat," Uncle said. "If you can keep it focused while it battles, it will grow in energy until you've brought it to the level of a regular metagross. Right now, it can't generate a magnetic field strong enough to sustain itself."

"Do you understand? If you want to feel good, you need to get stronger. You need to use your moves."

The voice was gravelly and metallic, forming a string of echoes instead of a coherent sentence. " _Beldum_ , _beldum, beldum, beldum_." But it sounded like agreement.

"It looks like it barely has enough poke-energy to keep upright." Ann didn't have to turn to know Dad was frowning.

"I'm counting on the fact it evolved enough to be able to absorb extra energy from Berries," Uncle said. "What I fear is that it won't able to keep the energy. But even if it needs two dozen Berries a fight, it'll be worth it. I'll buy you a basket-load, Sparkle."

Metagross wolfed down the big blue Berries, chomping them down with its big sharp teeth. Immediately the golden bonds shone brighter.

"Watch it," Dad called, "it's shimmering light blue."

Metagross' eyes flashed blue, red, blue again. A bubble of knowledge suddenly filled Anabel's mind. "It's _Psychic_ , the move."

~Thanks, Abra.~

"It _would_ be Psychic if it could focus," Dad countered. "It's not managing it. How far back can you go without it panicking, Bells?"

"Can't Abra get close for you?" Uncle suggested. "He'll teleport if Metagross starts spraying energy everywhere."

Anabel shot Abra a look. He was more eager than truly confident, but she liked this: they were doing things _together_. Maybe this bond thing would work out.

She was shaking when they'd finished. Well, when Uncle had called a stop because Abra looked like he was about to faint. The little pokemon curled up on the grass, his eyes sleepy slits.

Anabel swallowed, feeling bitter. _She should be able to do more- she-_ Anabel winced, her own thoughts feeling hollow, like illusions somehow.

Her head snapped towards V. Again, the big slab of control. Anabel's eyes widened, sludge was seeping through it, sludge filled with shards of cutting glass.

"V," she said shakily. "Whatever you're thinking, stop."

The control rippled. It was getting weaker. V had ducked her head, a fake calm blanking out her face.

Anabel shouldn't have freed metagross. She shouldn't have- _Gah! Stupid thoughts! Not her feelings!_ She backed away, she had to.

"Your dad's an asswipe, kiddo. It wasn't your job to watch for his safety." Dad's voice was loud and tight, and _nice_ compared to the scorching fury in his chest that only she could feel. "If I'd been in your place, I'd have left him rot down there. He brought all this on himself."

 _V's dad?_ Ghosts, Anabel should have known. But the wave of guilt had shrunk into something small that was _way_ more manageable.

"It's going to be one tough pokemon," V finally said. Like nothing had happened. But her eyes had crinkled.

Anabel's smile was stolen by a yawn. Not so far away, Abra was fast asleep.

Ghosts, it wasn't even mid-afternoon.

Anabel swallowed her pride. "Listen, I love you guys, but I guess I need a nap too."

As she made her way up the stairs to her room, a hand on her shoulder startled her. Mom's grip was almost painful.

"Mom –"

"Ann, listen. This is important."

Anabel nodded, struggling not to let herself distracted by the fear that poked through the love.

"You're an empath, absolutely. But you're not just that. It's like saying you're loyal, or that you like exploring. It's something about you. It's important. It makes you who you are. But it's not _all_ of you. The rest matters just as much. It's all very big for you now, but don't forget." Anabel nodded again, confused, but all too aware that Mom _cared_. Mom smiled faintly. "I don't like exploring, but does it mean we can't be close?"

"No, that… that'd be silly."

Mom hugged her. "Hold onto that. You're not a whole different person. You're still you. And you have nothing to prove to us. _Nothing_."

Anabel hugged her back, a bit overwhelmed, but happy to be wrapped in her warmth.

Oo*oOo*oO

Mom and Dad had gone to work for a few hours, but they'd given Anabel permission to eat a whole pack of uncooked cookie dough and Uncle was in the kitchen baking the rest of the cookies, so she couldn't decently feel too sorry for herself.

She was in the garden, lying on the grass with Espeon as a pillow and Valeria sitting next to her. Abra and Eeveevee were 'exploring' on the roof. Anabel narrowed her eyes as she popped another piece of dough in her mouth.

~If you find something that looks like a cable, don't touch it,~ she warned.

Abra's _"_ _why?_ "pulsed through her mind.

~It'll be electrical. It can hurt you. I'll ask Mom and Dad how it works later.~

She felt like a tiny kid asking a thousand questions, but Abra was making her realize how much she didn't know. It was kind of frustrating, actually.

"I'm sure Eeveevee would love to see if Metagross can make her float and fly around with Psychic," V said.

"It's not just floating, V. The move's damaging. It rips poke-energy out of its prey."

"Ouch. Well, at least we saw that you and Abra can work together even when you're standing two yards away. Metagross managed to attack Espeon. It'll just take a bit of time."

An exhausted laugh left Anabel's lips. Metagross had barely managed five focused attacks and only one had been strong enough to affect Espeon. It'd take a _truck-load_ of Berries to get it stable enough not to need any help.

"I must get Uncle to convince them to let me take Metagross and Espeon with me. Metagross are valuable, right? If I get good enough, I could help every metang and metagross from the mines to evolve properly."

"Metagross are _very_ valuable," V agreed with a growing smile, chimes now whistling around her.

"Please go ask Uncle for me?" Anabel's head weighted a whole ton, and that wasn't even all Abra's fault anymore.

V nodded sharply and sprinted back to the house.

Anabel rubbed her eyes. Seth had sent her a nice text telling her about pokemon school and asking her how she was doing. _What was she going to tell her friends? Should she wait?_ _How could she explain?_

' _She's a normal little girl,'_ Dad had told the alakazam.

Anabel shut her stinging eyes, keeping them like that until she was very sure she wouldn't cry. The place for psychic people was an island near Mossdeep, far South. _Psyduck Village._ Psyduck had horrible headaches. They were water-type but somehow had psychic abilities. They were like a failure of nature, miserable, kind of dangerous and out of control. It was a cruel name for a school.

She shifted in the grass, her hold tightening over Espeon. Uncle Merle had said there were almost _two hundred_ adult psychics from Kanto to Sinnoh and just as many in Alola, Unova or Kalos.

He'd had meant to make her feel less freaky, but instead, Anabel was scared. One whole _two hundred_ psychics, and she only knew of Sabrina and Sabrina's dad. She vaguely remembered that all psychic-type Gym Leaders were psychic too, _or were they?_ and that old scientist who explained auras on TV... Where were all the others? Did they hide? Did they _have to_ hide? Or was Anabel freaking out for nothing because they were all living normal boring lives?

Abra just added more questions to hers.

Oo*oOo*oO

"Will you tell her yourself, Captain Catesby?"

Uncle's merry bells had Anabel smile as he brought his vidphone in front of her eyes. A friendly-looking Ranger was staring back at her.

"Good luck with learning to master your abilities," the man said. "As I was telling your Uncle, those metang and metagross are critical to the mine's production, so we've contacted the staff at the ducks." _The ducks_ , that's how they called psychics? "You'll be able to keep both Metagross and Espeon. Your success convinced us to recruit other empaths to help us."

 _Really?_ "But if you have real psychics helping, why would you need _me_?"

The Ranger Captain smiled. "Because your Uncle said keeping Metagross would make you happy, and you deserve a reward for helping."

Anabel beamed. V would treat Machoke and Skarmory well, but it would have broken Anabel's heart to leave Espeon behind.

* * *

 **THE END**

 **Author's note** :

 **So here are our heroes, a little more grown up, a little more confident, and ready for new adventures!**

 **While writing this was a blast, I'll admit I was a bit put out by the lack of feedback. So while book two (where Valeria goes after Gengar, Anabel enters the psychic community, and both come to realize something dark is afoot) is a work in progress, it's on the back burner and I have no idea if/when I'll post it. If anyone is interested, please do drop me a word.**


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